The Pharaoh's Memories
by AnimeAddicttttt
Summary: Yugi, Jonouchi and Honda embark on an adventure to try to help Pharaoh Atem recover his "lost" memories of them after accidentally transporting themselves to Ancient Egypt during a study trip to Egypt. The odds are against them when they end up as prisoners and then servants. However, despite all the obstacles and risks, they trust that one day Atem will remember them again.
1. Chapter 1

**I own nothing.**

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><p><strong>The Pharaoh's Memories (Chapter 1: Prologue)<strong>

"speech"

'thoughts'

*sound effects*

{locations}

~~~~ time shift ~~~~

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><p>{Domino City, Japan: A random classroom in Domino University}<p>

Amethyst eyes examined the elaborate hieroglyphics in the textbook. The events that had took place while his other self was here and the origins of Duel Monsters has left them intrigued with the lives of Ancient Egyptians, therefore after Atem's return home, Yugi, Jonouchi and Honda decided to pursue a degree in Egyptian Archaeology at Domino University. Anzu, on the other hand, has accepted a dance scholarship for a prestigious dance school in the States after winning a dance competition.

Flipping through the pages of the textbook, Yugi comes across the Eye of Wdjat triggering memories of the time he had spent with his other self. A sigh of longing left his body and he stared into space, deep in thought.

"Hey, what's wrong Yugi?" Jonouchi, who was sitting beside Yugi questioned. "Yeah… You seem distracted all of a sudden." Honda added.

The stares and questions from his friends made Yugi snap back into reality. "H-uh, oh nothing much" he answered with a weak smile. Jonouchi looked at him incredulously thinking, 'Only an idiot would take that for an answer!' Just as quickly as the thoughts filled his mind, the answer hit him like a ton of bricks, "Ohhhh, Atem..."

*Ringgg…* The school bell went off signalling the end of the lesson and also the start of the term break, "Oh yes before all of you go, there is a study trip to Egypt to visit the pyramids in the Valley of Kings, more specifically the tomb of the Nameless Pharaoh. Drop me an email to register yourselves for the trip. That's all." The teacher announced before leaving the room.

The announcement seemed to have perked Yugi up a bit. "Where shall we go now?" Honda asked as they started packing their things. "Let's go to Burger Land, I'm starving, what do you think Yugi?" Jonouchi replied, watching his petite friend pack his textbooks. "Err, I want to go find a computer to use first hehe." Yugi replied, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Okay, let's go! Let's sign up for the trip together!" Jonouchi gushed enthusiastically, pumping his fist in the air before slinging his arm around Yugi's shoulder. Honda just nodded in agreement as he followed both of them to the computer lab.

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><p><strong>That's the first chapter, please review and tell me how it is.. This idea has been hovering around for a bit and it<strong> is my first attempt at a fanfic. Hopefully you enjoyed it!<strong>**


	2. Chapter 2

**I own nothing.**

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><p><strong>The Pharaoh's Memories (Chapter 2: In the land of Egypt)<strong>

"speech"

'thoughts'

*sound effects*

{locations}

~~~~ time shift ~~~~

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><p>{Cairo Airport, Egypt}<p>

"Wow! Can't believe we are here again!" Jounouchi exclaimed getting all starry eyed. "Mmmhmm, the last time we came we didn't stay very long, I hope we can stay longer this time." Yugi nodded in agreement. The professor who heard the conversation between Yugi and Jounouchi became very curious as to what those two were talking about but decided not to comment on it.

"Guys, these people here are Ms Ishizu, Mr Marik and Mr Odion, they are in charge of the excavation of the tomb of the Nameless Pharaoh and will be our guides at the Valley of the Kings. The three guides and the three friends exchanged glances before breaking out in soft chuckles. "Is there something wrong Ms Ishizu?" The professor asked, cocking an eyebrow. "Oh no, don't mind me, it's just that by some coincidence I know three of your students." Ishizu replied with a warm smile. "Oh is that so?" The professor addressed Yugi and his friends.

"Yes professor, we met some years back" Yugi answered simply, ending all speculations from the professor and the other students.

{Valley of Kings, Pyramid of the Nameless Pharaoh}

"Everyone, you can break into three small groups and Marik, Odion and myself will lead the different groups inside." Ishizu announced. Since there were 10 students and 1 professor, Yugi, Jounouchi and Honda formed a group while the rest formed two groups of four people. Marik volunteered to guide Yugi's group. "The main tomb of the Pharaoh, I'm sure you all are already familiar with this place though." said Marik to the group who were currently focused on the Eye of Wdjat which overlooked the whole room. All of a sudden, a great light filled the entire main tomb which seemed to come from the Eye of Wdjat and the whole place started to shake. Marik, Yugi, Jounouchi and Honda were dumbfounded and stood there not knowing what to do.

"Marik!" Ishizu called out and managed to pull Marik out of the room as he was standing closest to the door, before the light seemed to consume Yugi and his friends and the next thing Marik knew, they were gone.

{An endless dark space}

"AHHHHH! We are falling! Yugi! Honda! Grab my hand!" Jounouchi called out, hoping that Yugi and Honda could hear him.

Yugi and Honda groped around in the dark before finding Jounouchi's hands and they grabbed on tightly. Strangely, they seemed to be floating and falling at the same time. After what seemed like an eternity of falling and floating, there was light at the end. "Brace yourselves, it looks like the end of the road!" Yugi shouted.

{Egypt: 3000 years ago. In the middle of the Festival of the Pharaoh}

"Oh great Pharaoh!" The citizens lined up kneeling by the side of the road called out. The Pharaoh Aknamkanon raised his hand greeting his subjects from his gestatorial chair which is literally a ceremonial throne affixed atop two long poles carried by eight slaves, his millennium puzzle was hanging from his neck. Beside him, Prince Atem rode in an open air sedan chair. They were flanked by the six priests all wielding their millennium items. In the middle of the prince and the Pharaoh, was Priest Shimon. Lastly, behind them was a whole contingent of guards, armed with bows, spears and swords on high alert for any danger. This was the Festival of the Pharaoh where the Pharaoh would come out of the palace to meet all his subjects.

"AHHHH! Ooof… Ouch!" Jounouchi cried out as Yugi and Honda landed on top of him. Unfortunately, they landed right in front of the procession which earned them stares from everyone who was present. Being the first to come out of his shock, Priest Aknadin commanded "Guards, seize these strangers who dare block the path of the Pharaoh." Snapping out of their initial shock, the guards moved in and pointed the weapons at the three strangers before Jounouchi and Honda could utter a word of defence, Yugi was just standing there staring at the face so familiar. "Take them to the dungeons!" Priest Aknadin barked out before turning to the Pharaoh who in turn nodded in approval.

Chaining their arms and legs the guards led the three of them to the dungeons. "Hey," Honda whispered "Why doesn't he recognise us? Don't tell me he forgotten us already."

Yugi stared at his chains despondently, "I don't believe that our friendship is that weak that he can forget us that easily, someday he will remember us again" A guard cracked his whip at them, "Silence, or you will get it from me! Keep moving" He barked.

Reaching the dungeons, the guards undid the hand chains but kept the leg ones on, throwing them all in one cell, the guard locked the cell doors. Yugi curled up into a ball at the corner and just cried himself to sleep. Jounouchi and Honda just looked on at Yugi, knowing that nothing they say would comfort Yugi now so they just cuddled near him and tried to sleep as well. At first Yugi tensed at their touch but after a while he relaxed but he didn't wake from his sleep. "My other self…" he mumbled.

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><p><strong>Now we are getting somewhere with the story.. We'll get to Atem in the next chapter =D Please review!<strong>


	3. Chapter 3

_**Hey guys! Thanks for your reviews!**_

_**Just to answer one of the questions: I think I'll make this story an Atem X Yugi pairing. I own nothing. _**Enjoy! **_**_

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><p><strong>The Pharaoh's Memories (Chapter 3: Atem steps up)<strong>

"speech"

'thoughts'

*sound effects*

{locations}

~~~~ time shift ~~~~

* * *

><p>Previously:<p>

Yugi curled up into a ball at the corner and just cried himself to sleep. Jounouchi and Honda just looked on at Yugi, knowing that nothing they say would comfort Yugi now so they just cuddled near him and tried to sleep as well. At first Yugi tensed at their touch but after a while he relaxed but he didn't wake from his sleep. "My other self…" he mumbled.

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><p>{In the royal dungeons compound}<p>

As the sun peaked out over the horizon of Egypt, the dungeons was almost totally void of any light, save for a few small windows that lets in some sunshine. Other than that, the place looks bleak and depressing.

"Get up!" The guard roughly ordered while giving Jounouchi and Honda a sharp kick in the back. Yugi was spared because he was tightly cuddled between the other two that even if the guard wanted to kick him to get up, Honda's body was in the way.

"Argh! Owww! Grrr!" Jounouchi and Honda shot up and grabbed the guard's shoulder, ready to punch him. However, the guard managed to push them away and they tripped over their legs chains before crashing to the ground. The guard them followed up with blows using his rod that was conveniently strapped to his belt, he kept hitting Jounouchi and Honda until Yugi got to his knees and begged the guard to stop.

"Hmph..." the guard stared at the two bruised and bloody men in a heap on the floor and the smaller sized boy kneeling on the ground in front of them with his hands together, on the verge of tears. The guard shoved three fist sized loaves of bread into Yugi's hands before chaining up the cell door. "Yucks, this has sand in it." Jounouchi complained weakly. "Just eat it Jounouchi, you won't know when they would give you your next meal." Honda groaned, obviously in pain from the beating he received earlier. About four hours later, the same guard came back holding three set of chains attached on ropes. "Hold out your hands!" he ordered. Not wanting to risk another beating, the three of them complied and held out their arms for the guards to chain up. Three separate guards held onto the ropes and tugged them indicating to the prisoners to start walking, while two other guards followed them out of the compound.

"Where are you taking us?" Yugi asked. "No talking and keep your heads bowed down!" answered the guard, cracking his whip again showing that he won't hesitate to use it if they did not listen to his instructions. After walking for about 15 minutes, the horizon opened up to a very huge central building. Tall pillars and walls decorated with intricate drawings and hieroglyphics. Studying Egyptian Archaeology has enabled them to be able to read some of the hieroglyphics as they passed by. Under normal circumstances, they would be awe stuck by their surroundings but now being led in chains to God knows where, they were not in the mood to be too excited about sightseeing.

{At the palace}

As they entered the building and walked through the endless halls, they finally came to a stop in front of a room. The guards tugged on the ropes again telling them to stop. They didn't dare to look up now lest they got hit in the back by a whip, which would almost certainly hurt a lot. One of the guards entered the room and said something before re-emerging outside to tell his fellow guards to bring the prisoners in.

As the 'prison transport' entered the room, the first thing that stood out was the gold throne with beautiful carvings atop of a raised platform. The man sitting in the throne was wearing a white tunic together with a gold belt, over that he wore a purple and gold coat and covering his head was a white **Nemes***. Gold accessories covered his body and the millennium puzzle hung around his neck. Beside him was a smaller gold chair, on it sat the young prince of Egypt who looked like Yugi. Their eyes and even their tri-coloured hair was of the same shades of colours.

The guards pressed down on Yugi, Jounouchi and Honda's shoulders to get them on their knees. The Pharaoh spoke up in an authoritative and confident voice, "you may raise your heads." The three of them looked up. Being able to take a clearer look at the small sized boy, the Pharaoh was now very surprised, the prisoner was almost an exact replica of his son. The prince was also surprised that there was someone who looked like him. There was murmuring amongst the priests who were lined up at the steps that led to the throne. Priest Aknadin spoke up first, "Oh great Pharaoh, these men had dare to disrupt the most important festival of our land, the festival of the Pharaoh and also, they done it by obstructing yours and the prince's path. Such audacity should not be condoned, therefore they should be put to death to set an example for the rest of your subjects." With that, the murmurs started again.

The Pharaoh stroked his beard, when he raised his hand, all the murmurs in the room stopped. Turning to the young prince he said, "My son, since this boy looks exactly like you, how would you like to handle this sentencing?" Standing up, the prince walked over to his father and answered "Yes Father." At that, the Pharaoh gave him an encouraging smile.

Turning to address the prisoners, the prince asked, "Where are you from? Yours clothes show that you are not from Egypt, are you spies or thieves looking to plunder our land?" His voice oozing confidence and authority despite his young age but it was a voice Yugi was so familiar with. Immediately, Jounouchi held up his hands waving them, "NO, NO, NO, you got it wrong, we are not spies or thieves, we are from Japan but we don't know how we ended up here. We just fell here." It sounded ridiculous but hey, it was the truth. Young Atem glanced at Aknadin, who immediately understood the young prince's request. After all, Aknadin was the wielder of the millennium eye which enables him to look in the minds of people to determine whether they are telling the truth. Aknadin did a mind scan and nodded at the prince. Turning back to the three kneeling figures before him, Atem announced, "Seems like what you said is the truth, however, the fact remains that you were trespassing in our festival. Therefore, you will be punished of that crime. You are sentenced to become servants of the palace." Looking at his father, the Pharaoh gave no signs of objections but just smiled at his young son, proud of him and his decision. With that, he went back to take his seat. "Oh yes, before they start work, have a healer to see to the two men injuries." Aknamkanon instructed, to which the guards bowed to.

Seeing that the royals had nothing else to say, Priest Shimon who was still wearing the cloth over his face said "Take them away!" The guards bowed and tugged at the ropes leading the three of them out of the throne room.

{Back in the throne room}

'I'm not sure why but when I looked at that boy, there is this sense of familiarity about him. It's like I met him before. However, I spent my whole life in the palace and I hardly step out of this place and I'm quite sure that I haven't seen them before, so why?' Atem thought to himself.

Noticing that Young Atem was just staring into space, Pharaoh Aknamkanon walked over to his son and lightly tapped him on the shoulder. "My son, are you alright? You went into a daze ever since the prisoners were taken away." Aknamkanon asked, concerned. "Hmmm, oh yes Father, I'm alright, I was just thinking about something that's all." Atem replied. "Alright then let's go for lunch then! By the way I was so proud of you just now. You handled it very well." Pharaoh Aknamkanon said ruffling his son's hair.

Going back to his thoughts, Atem concluded 'I need to find out more about this Yugi.', before walking briskly to catch up with his father.

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><p>Author's note:<p>

**I decided to do some research on ancient Pharaohs dressing. I found out that Pharaohs typically wore Shendyt and Nemes.**

**Shendyt: The Shendyt (a royal apron) was the main piece of clothing in a pharaoh's ensemble. It was placed at the right hip and wrapped around the body, back to front, with detailed pleating.**

**Nemes: Pharaohs donned a head piece known as a Nemes. The Nemes was originally made of a single-coloured piece of linen and evolved in complexity over time.**

**Please review!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Heys! I'm back with chapter 4.. Thank you for the reviews, it was really encouraging! **

**Alright, then I was wrong about the pairing thing, I was planning to make it more of a friendship thing because I agree that turning them into lovers is just disgusting. Anyway, Yugi in this story is very respectful of authority therefore he wouldn't go and try to make Atem his lover, lest it's off with his head. Hope that helps! =D ON WITH THE STORY! **I own nothing. ****

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><p><strong>The Pharaoh's Memories (Chapter 4: Life as a servant)<strong>

"speech"

'thoughts'

*sound effects*

{locations}

;;;;;;;; time shift ;;;;;;;;;

* * *

><p>Previously:<p>

Going back to his thoughts, Atem concluded 'I need to find out more about this Yugi.' before walking briskly to catch up with his father.

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><p>{On the way to the servant's quarters}<p>

The guards were leading Yugi and the others to the servant quarter to wear something more appropriate for their new status. At the same time making sure that they don't try to run away midway.

"Sigh... Looks like life's going to be difficult from now" Jounouchi grumbled as he had hardly done any household chores in his life before and now he has suddenly been sentenced to become a servant. "It's not like we have anywhere to run to if we did run away, let's just try our best for now. I'm confident that my other self hasn't totally forgotten us, maybe his memory of us has been locked away. Did you realise he looks considerably younger than us?" Yugi questioned. Honda nodded in agreement and added, "Yeah he looks like he is around 16 years old which makes him 5 years younger than us, which is weird because he was 3000 years older than us in our world at that time, hahahahahaha!"

Jounouchi scowled at his two optimist friends, seriously they were too happy for people who have been sentenced to hard labour.

Reaching the servant quarters, they were ordered to strip and they dressed Yugi first with a cloth wrapped around his waist and secured it with a blue cloth belt. Jounouchi and Honda on the other hand, had a healer rub a stinging medicated ointment on their bruises before being dressed in the same manner as Yugi. They were given a crash course on the way servants should behave and what to do when in the presence of the royals, priest and nobility. After that, they were pushed outside which had a rectangular stone container fixture which held water. A senior servant threw them a cloth each and three buckets into the stone container.

Thinking that it was for washing up, Jounouchi dipped it in the water and started wiping his face. The chief servant coordinator resisted rolling his eyes at him and then said "It's not for your face, it's for the floor." Upon hearing that, Jounouchi immediately stopped and stared at the cloth with disgust, Yugi and Honda just stood there silently laughing at Jounouchi. Pointing at Yugi and Jounouchi, the coordinator continues by saying, "You two will go and clean the entire palace courtyard floor, don't go slacking off or you will be punished, got it?" They just nodded in understanding. Next, he pointed at Honda, "You will clean the floor in the throne room. It's around 4 now, the Pharaoh and the rest of the court should have already left the room for the day, got it?" Honda nodded. With that, the three of them filled the buckets with water and followed the servants who were appointed to guide them to their assigned places of work before leaving to get started on their own chores.

Letting out a sigh, Jounouchi said "Well, this floor is not going to clean itself, let's get started Yugi." Before getting on his knees and dipping the cloth into the bucket and started wetting the floor to scrub it.

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After 3 hours of cleaning, every inch of the HUGE courtyard had been thoroughly scrubbed. "Phew... Finally!" Yugi and Jounouchi exclaimed before flopping on their backs in exhaustion. Yugi winced when he saw his hands they were all red and sore from all that cleaning, there were some blisters forming as well. "Oh! We shouldn't be lying down, lest we get sweat marks on the floor and get punished for it." Yugi reminded Jounouchi. "Oh yeah! Haha, won't want our hard work to go to waste." Jounouchi added. He was sore and tired, the last thing he needed was another beating.

"Hey, Honda! Over here!" Yugi called out as he spotted Honda trudging out of the building holding his bucket. "Hey… Man! I'm tired, I doubt I ever worked so hard in my life." Honda responded unenthusiastically before sitting on the floor beside his friends. Some other servants also joined them and they started exchanging names and talking.

Unbeknownst to Yugi, someone was watching him from a balcony high up in the building. Calling a senior servant over, he instructed, "Find out more about him, what he does, what he likes, what he knows and anything else relevant." The servant bowed and left the room. Joining them downstairs, the senior servant called out to the rest of the servants gathered at the corner of the courtyard to head back to the servant quarters, to which all the servants complied.

Reaching back, they all gathered around the dining table and their dinner was served by some of the kitchen slaves. Starting off the conversation was the senior servant who had a mission given to him by the Prince, "so Yugi, what did you do before you came here?" Yugi looked up from his plate and thought about it briefly, "O-ohh, I was a student." He answered briefly. Well, he couldn't possibly tell them what he was studying because it would sound something like: "oh I was studying Egyptian Archaeology, which means I am studying about you." It will just be too weird. Deciding to probe further, the senior servant continued, "What were you studying about?" Again, Yugi thought about his answer carefully before replying "A little of everything actually, I was taught about the language system here like hieroglyphics, the Egyptian speech, the history, something like that." This was the closest to the truth as he can get without revealing too much. "How about you Hon and Jono?" another servant chimed in. The servants shortened their names to make them sound more Egyptian like, while Yugi's name was too short to change so they left it as that. "Same as Yugi." They answered simply.

After dinner, they sat around and chatted for a while, before taking their baths. After that, a younger servant brought the three of them to a room which they were to share. It was certainly more comfortable as compared to the dungeons the night before, thus no one was complaining too much. After talking among themselves for a while, they fell asleep, tired of the drama that they had experienced earlier in the day.

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><p><strong>Please review!<strong>


	5. Chapter 5

**Just to answer some questions:**

**I guess Atem found out Yugi's name when the guards went into the room the first time to report the case to the Pharaoh before bringing him in.**

**I own nothing.**

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><p><strong>The Pharaoh's Memories (Chapter 5: Yugi proves himself)<strong>

"speech"

'thoughts'

*sound effects*

{locations}

;;;;;;;; time shift ;;;;;;;;;

* * *

><p>Previously:<p>

After dinner, they sat around and chatted for a while, before taking their baths. After that, a younger servant brought the three of them to a room which they were to share. It was certainly more comfortable as compared to the dungeons the night before, thus no one was complaining too much. After talking among themselves for a while, they fell asleep, tired of the drama that they had experienced earlier in the day.

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><p>{In the main hallway}<p>

Three weeks have gone by and the three friends got on with their daily routine, going to their assigned places to clean. Their second day of work was the hardest to pass because their hand were severely blistered. It hurt when their hands were wet and it hurt even more when they were wringing the cloth. However, after their hands healed and got used to it, it did not blister anymore which made their work that much more pleasant. Then, it got even better when they were no longer assigned to the outdoor courtyards where they were exposed to the merciless Egyptian sun and were posted to cleaning the inside of the palace.

Yugi and Jounouchi were currently in charge of cleaning the floor of the main hallway while Honda was cleaning the walls since he was taller than the other two. Just then, Prince Atem and Priest Shimon came around onto the hallway on the way to the sitting room. Yugi, Jounouchi and Honda immediately stopped their cleaning, stood off by the side and gave a deep bow until they entered the room.

"Hmmm Grandpa?" Yugi asked himself. "Huh?" Honda asked, wondering what Yugi was talking about. "I was thinking that Priest Shimon looks like grandpa?" Yugi answered simply.

"Hmmm, yeah a little, but I can't be sure since we never see his entire face" Jounouchi replied, getting back to cleaning the floor.

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{In the sitting room}

'Argh that useless servant, he can't even get some substantial information about the boy. Looks like I want anything done, I have to do it myself then.' Atem grumbled to himself. Turning to the High Priest, he asked, "He is an interesting person, isn't he Shimon?".

"My liege? Who are you referring to?" Shimon questioned. "The servant outside, Yugi." Atem replied. "Heh? Have you taken a liking to him, your royal highness?" Shimon asked again with a cheeky grin plastered on his face. "Merely curious." Atem said, before walking towards the cushions laid out on the floor. Signalling to a servant to come closer, he gave instructions for him to summon the servant coordinator. Bowing, the servant left the room to call the coordinator as instructed.

"You summoned me your highness?" the coordinator, whose name was Hotep, asked respectfully. Mentioning his finger to get Hotep to come closer, Atem whispered some instructions to him. Smirking, he continued out loud, "Let's test some of his skills, shall we?"

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"Finally!" Jounouchi cried out when the last inch of floor was wiped dry. "I see that you are done." Hotep commented as he walked up to them, inspecting the floor and walls. Yugi and the rest gave a small bow to him in respect. "Right, follow me." Hotep instructed and started walking along the hallway and they followed behind. Jounouchi and Honda were making exasperated faces with their arms stretched out, mouthing the words 'WHY!" and Yugi was laughing quietly to himself, they all went back to their 'normal' faces when Hotep spun around. Raising an eyebrow, Hotep questioned, "Is there something wrong?" The three of them gulped and shook their heads. "Thought so" he commented before looking ahead again.

They stopped in front of a door that had a hanging sign that indicated store. When Hotep opened it, the first thing that they will noticed was the spears and swords strewn all over the floor, vases and statues that were toppled over, paintings were on the floor. The word to describe it was: VERY MESSY. "Yugi, you will plan the layout to organise the room, Jono and Hon will help you move the things. Good luck." Hotep gave the instructions before leaving.

Heaving a deep sigh, Yugi called out, "Let's get to work then." and went into the room.

Three hours later, the room had been transformed, Yugi could have become an interior designer if he wasn't taking Egyptian Archaeology. "Is it finished?" A voice called out from outside the room. Looking out, Yugi and his friends realised Hotep was back with Prince Atem. Stepping aside and bowing, Yugi answered, "Yes, Your Highness." "Let's have a look then," Atem said, walking into the room.

Smirking, he praised them for a job well done before telling Hotep to give them the rest of the day off. "Thank you your Highness!" The three of them thanked the prince before bowing again. 'Interesting, talented and mysterious… Perfect.' Atem thought to himself as he walked back to his room.

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{Outside the prince's room}

The next morning, Yugi was summoned to the Prince's room. Knocking on the door, Yugi waited for a reply, "Come in" Atem called out. Opening the door slowly, "Good morning, your Highness. You summoned me?" Yugi asked softly. "Good morning! I'm going out today and I want you to follow me." Atem told Yugi as he finished putting on the gold earrings. "Yes, your Highness." Yugi answered, not able to stop staring at him. This was the first time he was standing so close to his other self, alone. The sense of longing that he managed to suppress three weeks ago was back again. "Let's go," Atem said, snapping Yugi out of his thoughts.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

It turned out that the prince had brought Yugi with him to see a horse merchant in town. Yugi stood off to a side watching as the prince tested a horse that he picked out, a magnificent stallion with a pristine white coat and a light brown mane. The prince was clearly enjoying himself and Yugi was not complaining, he was out here and not back at the palace scrubbing floors, more importantly, if his other self was happy, he was happy.

"What a magnificent horse!" Atem told the merchant, patting the horse. "It's one of my best steeds, your Highness." The merchant proudly said, "There's one thing left to settle your Highness," pointing to the scale with some weights on one side. "Ah yes, as agreed" Atem smirked, walking up to the scale and placing a bag of coins on the other side of the scale. As Atem turned around, the merchant called out to the prince, "Ermmm, Your Highness, there seems to be a little problem," pointing to the scale which was not balanced. "Hmm, I thought I counted it right." Atem commented confused before placing the extra coins to balance out the scale. "It's alright your Highness, you are a busy man. Thank you!" The merchant replied.

Yugi quietly watched the conversation between the prince and the merchant. He raised an eyebrow when he saw the scale go off balance, the prince was a careful person and he wouldn't make such a mistake. 'Something is not right...' Yugi thought as he walked over to the scale as the prince started to walk away. Removing all the items from the scale, something interesting happened. One side of the scale went down even though there was nothing on it.

"Your Highness, there is something you might want to take a look at." Yugi called out to the prince who was in the midst of mounting the horse. The merchant turned around and saw Yugi in front of the scale. "Don't touch that!" The merchant started but he saw the deep frown started to form on the prince's forehead. "Oh dear, the scale is broken!" The merchant lied pathetically, trying to find an excuse. "Hmph, of course! You are very busy man so you wouldn't know it's broken," Atem remarked sarcastically, "Guards remove this swindler from my presence and take him to the dungeons!" As the guards approached, the merchant fell to his knees and begged for mercy and offered the horse for free to Atem. Atem ignored his pleas and his offer and called Yugi to his side as he started heading back to the palace.

"Your Highness!" Priest Shimon called out to the prince, his voice full of anxiety.

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><p>Author's note:<p>

**The inspiration I got for this chapter was from a movie called Joseph-King of Dreams, specifically the room re-organising and horse buying part.**

**Please Review!**


	6. Chapter 6

**HEYSSS! I'm back with chapter 6, its a little shorter than usual though. I have exams this week so I did not have much time recently. Anyway, on with the story! I own nothing.**

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><p><strong>The Pharaoh's Memories (Chapter 6: The palace is under attack!)<strong>

"speech"

'thoughts'

*sound effects*

{locations}

;;;;;;;; time shift ;;;;;;;;;

* * *

><p>Previously:<p>

"Your Highness!" Priest Shimon called out to the prince, his voice full of anxiety.

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><p>Atem turned around to see Priest Shimon, not wearing his face 'maskcloth', riding a horse at full speed towards them. Panting, he got down from the horse and gave a deep bow. "You mustn't return to the palace now, your Highness!" Shimon insisted urgently.

"Hu-uh Grandpa?! What are you doing here?" Yugi accidentally shouted out when he got a look at Shimon. 'Heh? Grandpa?' Atem and Shimon thought to themselves, shocked. "Oh… Erm…Uh, I..." Yugi stammered, trying to form an intelligible sentence. "Insolent servant!" Shimon scolded. Dropping to his knees, Yugi immediately apologized before he got thrown into prison, "Forgive me, Priest Shimon, it's just that you look just like my grandpa and I never seen your full face before, so the words just spilled out, please forgive me, I'm sorry!"

"Hahaha, just forgive him Shimon, I'm sure he did not mean to be rude or anything, perhaps it's just the sun." Atem stepped in. "Hmph, since the prince has spoken up for you, I'll forgive you just this once, make sure it doesn't happen again!" Shimon warned Yugi. "Yes, High Priest! Thank you!" Yugi said, heaving a sigh of relief.

"By the way, Shimon, what do you mean by not going back to the palace now? Is there something wrong?" Atem questioned. The anxiety that had been replaced by the shock and annoyance came creeping back onto Shimon's face, talk about a 180 degrees change in moods.

"Oh yes! The palace is in danger! The Pharaoh asked me to come to warn you not to go back ." Shimon explained. "WHAT! NO! We got to head back, Father might be in trouble!" Atem said anxiously, as he mounted the white horse and started riding back towards the palace. "Wait, Your Highness! Come on!" Shimon yelled after him, offering a hand to Yugi to pull him up onto the horse as well. At the speed Atem was riding back, Yugi won't be able to catch up to him by running.

"Your Highness! Please stop!" Shimon begged the prince as his lined his horse alongside the prince's but apparently, Atem was not listening to anything he said.

;;;;;;;;;;;;

{At the main palace entrance}

When they reached the main palace, Shimon tried to block Atem's way through the entrance, however an old man was no match against a well-built teenager who was worried about his father's safety. Atem easily pushed him aside before rushing through the long hallways bursting through the door of the throne room. "FATHER!" Atem cried out. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the bloody scene before him.

There was blood everywhere, on the walls and on the floor. Looking further in, Atem saw his father standing atop the platform in front of the throne, holding up a sword defensively. He was flanked by a few guards that were still alive. At the foot of the platform, five of the priests lay dead on the ground in a pool of their own blood. Many of the guards also laid dead on the ground, most of them with deep cuts across their bodies. The only one still alive was Aknadin, he was pointing a spear at the muscular, deranged looking man with white hair, trying to protect the Pharaoh. There were more guards around the perimeter of the throne room to ensure that the man doesn't run away and finding an opening to attack the man. "Who's next? Anyone will do, it makes no difference anyway, you weaklings!" The man taunted, waving his sword around, blood dripping from its tip, carefully watching at all the guards who were trying to surround him.

Upon hearing Atem's voice, he turned around with a demented smirk on his face, "Greetings to you your Highness!" The man greeted, his voice dripping with malice.

"Who the hell are you? Why are you doing this? Leave my dad alone!" Atem screamed out.

"Tsk, Tsk, no way your Highness, you know as they say what goes around, comes around and now it has come around for your father! After I'm done with him, I'll come for you!" The man warned dangerously. "Bakura, you leave my son alone! Jono, get the prince out of here now!" Aknamkanon ordered, Jounouchi who joined his friends at the entrance of the room.

"My, my Pharaoh, you had the guts to order _the_ attack 10 years ago but have no guts to come fight me now? What a tragedy!" Bakura taunted him further. Gripping the sword in his right hand tighter, Bakura bent down and picked up another one that was dropped by a dead guard and got ready for his next attack.

"Let's get out of here your highness!" Jounouchi yelled as he grabbed Atem and started pulling him out of the room. "You are not going anywhere!" Bakura yelled as he rushed towards Jounouchi and Atem trying to kill him before he ran away. However, he was caught by surprise with a punch to the face which sent him crashing to the floor briefly. It was Honda who blocked off the attack. "Another weakling the Pharaoh decided to sacrifice eh?" Bakura said while wiping off the blood from the corner of his mouth.

"Jounouchi! Yugi! GO!" Honda yelled when he saw Jounouchi hesitate when Honda engaged Bakura in a fight. Trusting in his friend, Yugi grabbed Jounouchi's and Atem's hand and said, "Be safe Honda!" dragging them out of the room with Shimon in tow. "Yeah, I don't plan on dying today" Honda smiled before taking up a defensive stance.

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><p><strong>Please Review!<strong>


	7. Chapter 7

**Hello! Thank you for all the reviews! I have just finished my exams today YAY! On with chapter 7. I own nothing.**

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><p><strong>The Pharaoh's Memories (Chapter 7: The conclusion of the attack)<strong>

"speech"

'thoughts'

*sound effects*

{locations}

;;;;;;;; time shift ;;;;;;;;;

* * *

><p>Previously:<p>

"Jounouchi! Yugi! GO!" Honda yelled when he saw Jounouchi hesitate. Trusting in his friend, Yugi grabbed Jounouchi's and Atem's hand and said, "Be safe Honda!" dragging them out of the room with Shimon in tow. "Yeah, I don't plan on dying today" Honda smiled before taking up a defensive stance.

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><p>{In one of the hallway far from the throne room}<p>

"JONO! YUGI! STOP, LET ME GO NOW!" Atem yelled he started hitting them in the back in an effort to get them to let go. He may be strong but it was 2 against 1 and Jono was very strong guy, Yugi had also become stronger as compared to when he just arrived, it was a futile struggle.

After putting some distance between themselves and the throne room, they let go of Atem and almost immediately he turned around to try to run back. However, Jounouchi blocked his path back to the throne room. Atem tried to push him aside but to no avail, then he tried the sides to slip past Jounouchi but the hallway was quite narrow that it was easy for Jounouchi to cut off his access. "Why you…" Atem started dangerously.

"Think about the people who are risking their lives trying to protect you! The priests and the guards. Even the Pharaoh was concerned about your well-being. You are the heir to the throne of Egypt if you lost your life in there, who will rule it then! The Pharaoh won't want you to put your life in danger just so that you can save him, you understand?" Jounouchi got quite emotional as he tried to reason with Atem. He was taking a big risk here, the highly agitated prince could have his head chopped off at any time. "Jono is right, Your Highness, your safety is the first priority now" Shimon added. With that, Atem seemed to have calm down and was not fighting back anymore, tears formed in his eyes threatening to fall. 'Oh Gods, I beg you, please keep my Father safe.' Atem silently prayed in his heart before falling back against the wall.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

When the noise seem to have gone down, the four of them walked back to the throne room and opened the door quietly. Honda seemed to have just knocked out Bakura and was currently standing over his body, "Hey Honda, you okay?" Yugi asked, concerned. "Yeah, this punk was no match for me, hahaha. The Pharaoh is safe as well, your Highness" Honda answered. Atem looked towards his father, who mouthed the words, "Glad you're okay". Atem smiled at him.

Just as the guards who were protecting the Pharaoh moved in to secure chains on Bakura, his eyes suddenly snapped open. He jumped up and reached for the dagger hidden in his shirt and slashed at Honda, which managed to cut his abdomen. Honda drooped to the ground clutching his bleeding abdomen. Within the blink of an eye, Bakura was now making a mad charge towards the Pharaoh. Taken by surprise, the Pharaoh had no time to defend himself and before he knew it, Bakura had already plunged the dagger deep into his chest. Standing over him and laughing as though he lost his screws, Bakura declared triumphantly, "Hahaha, what goes around, comes around Pharaoh," before jumping of the balcony, getting out of there before he was caught and immediately executed for assassinating the Pharaoh.

'Better to retreat and regroup before I try to get that prince.' Bakura thought as he did a safety roll and jumping over the wall, disappearing into the horizon just as the palace gates opened and throngs of guards started their search for the assassin.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

{Back in the throne room}

"NOOOOO… Father! Someone get the healer now!" Atem screamed, rushing towards his father. Cradling the Pharaoh's head in his arms, "Stay with me Father, talk to me. Please don't leave me" He said with tears streaming down his face.

Fighting through the pain and with blood filling his lungs, Aknamkanon reached up and held Atem's cheek, with tears in his eyes and agony in his voice, he told his young son, "You will be a fine Pharaoh, my son. Heed my words, you must always be strong and think through your decisions and you will be able to lead Egypt and all its people to prosper under your rule." Looking straight into Atem's amethyst eyes, he took a deep breath and continued, "I love you always, son." The healer arrived and immediately started taking out the medical supplies to try to control the bleeding. Atem was by his side holding his father's hand, "I love you, Father." Atem managed to say before Aknamkanon closed his eyes and went limp in his son's arms.

Taking his arm, the healer tried to find a pulse, however it was too late, Pharaoh Aknamkanon had succumbed to his injuries. She looked up at the prince and shook her head before saying, "I'm sorry, your Highness, the Pharaoh has passed away. His injuries were too severe."

Another healer was working on Honda, the slash was quite deep and he was bleeding out fast. Yugi and Jounouchi stood to the side so as not to be in the way of the healer as she desperately tried to stop the bleeding. Meanwhile, Atem was kneeling over his father's body, staring into blank space as he recalled his father's last words to him. He was slightly glad that his last words to his father were words of love. A single tear rolled down his face, the first of many. He felt as if someone had just cut out his heart and stomped on it over and over again. He collapsed onto the ground clutching his chest, crying his eyes out, his heart wrenching cries echoed through the throne room and the main hallway.

Shimon went up to the prince and wrapped his arms around him, "Let's go get you cleaned up and looked over by a healer your Highness." He gently coaxed the fragile child in his arms. At first, Atem refused to leave his father's side but crying so hard, he seemed to have no energy left at all and allowed Shimon to help him get to his room to clean up himself. Shimon also ordered the guards to carry the Pharaoh's body to a private room so that the death rituals could be started.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

After an hour, the bleeding had been brought under control. Honda was unconscious but was not breathing as heavily anymore. The healer turned to Yugi and Jounouchi and told them, "I have managed to stop the bleeding, he'll need a lot of rest now." "Will he be alright?" Yugi worriedly asked. "I think so, the prognosis is good, I have done all I could, the rest is up to him." The healer replied before moving on to help her colleagues who were rescuing other survivors. There were not many though. Yugi heaved a sigh of relief just as Jounouchi went over to carry Honda back to the room to rest, whispering into his ear, 'Glad you didn't die, friend!'

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

Aknadin, on the other hand, had just recovered from his state of unconsciousness. He sat up and looked around and was shocked to see the aftermath of the tragedy. The healer then told him about the Pharaoh's death, Aknadin didn't say anything but bowed his head silently asking the Pharaoh's forgiveness for his inability to protect him. After resting for a while, he proceeded to order some of the guards to carry away the bodies of the dead guards and servants, while he collected all the millennium items from his fellow dead priests. He then left to help prepare for the Pharaoh's death ritual.

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><p><strong>Please Review!<strong>


	8. Chapter 8

**I own nothing.**

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><p><strong>The Pharaoh's Memories (Chapter 8: The new Pharaoh is crowned)<strong>

"speech"

'thoughts'

*sound effects*

{locations}

;;;;;;;; time shift ;;;;;;;;;

* * *

><p>Previously:<p>

After resting for a while, he proceeded to order some of the guards to carry away the bodies of the dead guards and servants, while he collected all the millennium items from his fellow dead priests and then he personally carried the Pharaoh's body away to get it prepared for burial.

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><p>{In Prince Atem's room}<p>

The prince took almost 2 and a half months to truly get over his Father's death, not once in that long while did he smile at anyone or talked to anyone other than for official duties. He had a lot of things to keep his thoughts occupied during the day, there was a lot of work and duties that had to be seen to. However, after those were taken care of, he would immediately go back and lock himself in his room. He had his dinners in his room as well and cried himself to sleep almost every night.

He couldn't believe that at the age of 17 years old, he was given the responsibility of taking Egypt to new heights, he was afraid that Egypt would crumble in his hands. However, these few days he kept dreaming of his father, about the times they shared. In one of the dreams, his Father was admonishing him for what he let himself become.

{Atem's Dream}

Aknamkanon and Atem were walking to the underground shrine where the stone carvings of all the previous Pharaoh's lay. The bridge to the shrine was narrow and falling off the path meant a 20 feet drop to the bottom of the 'ravine'. "Father, I'm scared! Can I go back?" Atem looked around in fear, the place was quite dark and cold. "No!" Aknamkanon firmly told his young 8 year old son. Just then, Atem slipped and fell off the bridge but managed to hang on by the tip of his fingers. "Remember, you must always be strong son. Always face your fears and pull yourself right back up where you fall." Aknamkanon walked back to encourage his son to get back onto the path on his own. Atem then garnered his strength and pulled himself up. His father then ruffled his hair and continued walking forward…. "Always be strong, face your fears and pull yourself right back up where you fall, son" These words of his Father's wisdom rang in his head throughout his whole dream.

{End of dream}

He woke up with a head full of sweat and he told himself that he cannot let his father down. 'Father had always taught me to be strong, he would not want me to crumble like that,' he told himself, 'NO! I must continue his legacy. I would make him proud to call me his son, I will create a greater Egypt then that of his reign.' Atem ended off, determined he would not continue wallowing in grief, his country needed him.

*Knock, knock*, "Come in," Priest Shimon pushed open the door and entered. Giving a deep bow, he announced to the Prince Regent, **(A/N: Atem had been making decisions for the running of the kingdom since his father died but the official ceremony for him to be crowned as Pharaoh takes very long to prepare for, so for now he was known as Prince Regent Atem)** "Your Highness, the sarcophagus is ready to be brought to the Valley of the Kings."

"Alright, let's go," Atem said as he got up and walked towards the door with new determination. Shimon raised his eyebrow, confused at the sudden change in the Prince. His voice and demeanour had recovered all the confidence and authority that was lost after the Pharaoh's death. "Are you alright your highness?" Shimon asked. "Yes Shimon, why do you ask?" Atem replied. "Oh it's nothing, I'm just glad you are okay!" Shimon answered with a warm smile. He was relieved the Prince was back to his old self again.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

{At the entrance of the palace}

At the head of the procession was Atem, with the wooden sarcophagus in tow and crying women followed behind. By the side of the sarcophagus were the priests burning incense and shaking their sistrums. They walked all the way from the palace into the valley.

Once they reached the tomb, the priests stood the coffin upright. Atem was guided on the steps to lead the Opening of the Mouth ceremony which was believed to restore the dead person's senses, as well as his use of speech and ability to eat and drink. One could have seen that the funeral procedures is taking a lot out of Atem even though he is trying to put on a brave front, he is visibly upset after seeing his Father's coffin and reminded of his Father's death. No one could blame him though, he really loved his father and having his father dying in his arms made it worse.

After performing the Opening of the Mouth ceremony, Pharaoh Aknamkanon was finally carried to the monumental stone sarcophagus deep in the tomb's burial chamber. After he was placed in this sarcophagus and the heavy cover was affixed, the workmen set to work sealing the tomb. While they were doing this, Atem invited all the people present for the procession to attend a funeral banquet.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

Two months later, the coronation ceremony for Atem to recognise him as the new pharaoh was ready. Unfortunately for Atem who generally disliked loud events, the coronation wasn't really one ceremony event, instead it was a series of ceremonies that had to be performed.

First came the Sed Feast which included procedures like temple rituals, giving offerings, acts of religious devotion like raising of a djed which meant using some muscles as Atem needed to raise a wooden pillar together with some of the priests. After the pillars was raised, one of the temples priests declared to all the people present, "Just as the God Osiris triumphed over Set, so will our new Pharaoh who will guide Egypt to triumph over all of our enemies!" At this, the people emerged in cheers and shouting out, "Long live the Pharaoh!"

Once that was done, there was the usual feasting, dancing and music. Soon after that, there were several more ceremonies that he had to perform over a course of 4 days.

After what seemed like the ten thousandth ceremony, the last ceremony was in process, the Appearance of the king ceremony which confirmed Atem's right to rule over Egypt. This was an easy one for Atem, he just had to stand there while the priest passed him the different symbols of his power, like the sceptre that was shaped like a shepherd's crook known as a Heka_,_ a fly whip called the Nekhakha which was a symbol of his power and authority, his Nemes and finally, the millennium puzzle which was placed around his neck.

After the priests had finished passing him all the items, Atem waved to his subjects who all then fell on their knees and gave him a kneeling bow, a sign of their immense respect for the Pharaoh. Priest Shimon who was named Grand Vizier, finished off with the announcement, "The falcon has flown to heaven and Prince Atem is arisen in his place".

With that, the ceremony was over and Prince Atem was now known as Pharaoh Atem, the chief arbiter over all humans, protector of the weak from the powerful, the head of the 'civil' and 'religious' administration, the representative of the country toward foreign powers and the commander-in-chief of the armed forces. He walked into the throne room and took his rightful place at the throne.

As his Grand Vizier, Priest Shimon whispered to the new Pharaoh, "The first task you have to do Pharaoh is to name the new High Priests and assign them the millennium items." Pharaoh Atem nodded in understanding. He already had the names of his new High Priests in mind.

"High Priest Aknadin, you will continue your role as High Priest and wielder of the millennium eye." Atem told Aknadin, to which Aknadin stepped out of the crowd and knelt in front of the Pharaoh. "Seto, Mahado, Shada, Karim and Isis, step out!" Pharaoh Atem called out the different names. When the people he named had stepped out, he told Shimon, "High Priest Seto, wielder of the millennium rod. High Priest Mahado, wielder of the millennium ring. High Priest Shada, wielder of the millennium key. High Priest Karim, wielder of the millennium scale. Finally, High Priestess Isis, wielder of the millennium necklace." Atem announced as Shimon handed the new high priest the millennium items. The newly appointed high priests all knelt beside Aknadin before giving their respects to the new Pharaoh in the form of a kneeling bow. "We pledge to lay down our lives for the great Pharaoh." The Priests said, pledging their loyalty to the Pharaoh.

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><p>Author's note:<p>

**I did some research on the procedures of a funeral for a dead Pharaoh and also the coronation of the new Pharaoh. There wasn't very much information on them so some of the parts were just made up. **

**Please Review! **


	9. Chapter 9

**Thanks for all the reviews, they are really encouraging! Finally Atem became the Pharaoh so I can start writing some real details now, hope you guys enjoy it!**

**I own nothing.**

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><p><strong>The Pharaoh's Memories (Chapter 9: New roles, new duties)<strong>

"speech"

'thoughts'

*sound effects*

{locations}

;;;;;;;; time shift ;;;;;;;;;

* * *

><p>Previously:<p>

"We pledge to lay down our lives for the great Pharaoh." The Priests said, pledging their loyalty to the Pharaoh.

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><p>{In the throne room}<p>

"Yugi, Jono and Hon step up!" Atem called, his voice oozing with authority. He lost that edge in his voice while he was grieving over the death of his father. The people Pharaoh Atem called stepped out and knelt down in front of him. "In light of recent events, you have proven to have great loyalty to me and my father. Jono and Hon, you showed great courage and skills in fighting. On the other hand, Yugi, you have shown great intellect and great organisation skills, traits I value in a servant." Atem started, looking straight at them, he continued "Therefore, Jono and Hon, you will be transferred to be trained as royal guards and Yugi, you will become my personal servant." The three of them knelt there stunned, these new appointments were like promotions for them. "Thank you Pharaoh!" the three of them said smiling at each other, trying their best to hide all the excitement.

"Wow! We got promotions! Hahaha!" Jounouchi exclaimed as they walked back to the servants' quarters to gather their belongings to report to their new posts. As guards, Jounouchi and Honda will be staying at the barracks and Yugi will be staying in a room closer to the Pharaoh's bedroom. "Mmmhmm and now I can work with my other self. He will remember us! I'm sure he will!" Yugi exclaimed excitedly.

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**{The next day}**

{On the training ground, sunrise}

Jono and Hon stood at attention with 18 other young men on the training ground while they waited for the trainer to arrive. They were in their guards' uniform which was a kilt like clothing held together by a belt which was beige in colour.

The training grounds is huge. It is in the middle of what looked like stands, which made the place look like an oversized stadium. Right in the centre was a big pitch of grass. Around the pitch was a 400m track, but instead of it being rubber like modern time tracks, it was laid with stone. The whole place was exposed to the merciless heat of the Egyptian sun except for the stands which had shelters and the places where the stands casted shadows on the floor.

After standing for 45 minutes, the trainer appeared holding a board with a name list. One by one, he called out the names on his list. "I am Nakhti and I am in charge of you for the next 6 months whether you like it or not. Let's start with a simple exercise, you will first go fill up one sandbag. You will carry it and run 30 laps around the field. Go!" Groaning, the men went to get the bags to fill it up with sand. When it was full, it weighed around 25kg, throwing it over their shoulders, they started their run.

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{At the servants' quarters, 1 hour after sunrise}

Yugi took off the cloth wrapped around his waist and changed into a white tunic and tied the new black belt. It had been 6 months since they arrived in Ancient Egypt and looking at himself in the mirror, Yugi realised that he had become darker and his body and arms had become more muscular. Picking up his belongings, he went out of the room, looking back into the room that he shared with his friends for one last time, he closed the door and walked to his new room located in the main palace. Jono and Hon had left in before sunrise to report to the training officer to begin their guards training.

Knocking on the door, Yugi waited for a response from Pharaoh before entering. "Good morning Pharaoh." Yugi greeted. "Good morning, Yugi. You know what the duties of your new position are?" Atem asked, not looking up from the paper he was reading. "No sire. I have not been told." Yugi replied apologetically.

"Oh…" Atem smirked, putting down his paper, "well your job is to do everything I ask you to do, understand?"

"Yes Pharaoh." Yugi replied, giving a smile back at him. "First thing you do every morning is to wake me up at the time I tell you the night before. I will have breakfast in my room so you have to bring that up too. After that I will give you more instructions, okay?" Atem further instructed. "Yes Pharaoh." Yugi obediently replied. "Ummm, may I boldly ask you something?" Yugi asked softly.

"Hmm? Yeah sure" Atem said carelessly. "Do you find me familiar Pharaoh?" Yugi started, silently hoping that Pharaoh would not get offended by his question.

Atem quietly thought about the question, his silence making Yugi worried. Suddenly, his gaze softened and he spoke "Yeah, I admit when I first saw you on the street, I felt a sense of familiarity, it was like I had met my best friend who went away, but I can't quite place it. Maybe someday I will be able to remember why. Does that answer your question?"

"Yes!" Yugi answered as tears welled up in his eyes, the way the Pharaoh spoke to him was how his other self talked to him in the past. Atem wondered what brought about the mood change in his servant but decided not to say anything about it, little did he know that those were tears of joy. "Let's go." Atem told Yugi as he got up from the desk. Yugi dutifully opened the door for his king before running to catch up with him down the hallway.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

{Back at the training ground}

"I think I shall call him Satan Nakhti from now on! I swear he's going to kill us!" One men whisper-yelled as they continued their run under the hot Egyptian sun. Some of the men nodded in agreement too tired to give a reply. 'He will really kill us if he hears that though." Honda thought to himself, sweat dropping as he completed his 25th lap. He and Jounouchi would have already completed the run if the heat wasn't so bad since they were part of the school's marathon club and martial arts club, running long distances wasn't a problem for them. Looking back at the others, both of them can see some guys were totally not cut out for running, they were literally running on fumes on their 20th lap.

"Come on ladies! We are only just getting started! Tired already?" Nakhti loud voice boomed across the fields, trying to get the men to run faster.

20 minutes later, Jounouchi and Honda finished their 30 laps and Nakhti called them over, "Nice work Jono and Hon, go get a drink and rest under the shade." He instructed them. Jounouchi and Honda were bent over holding onto their knees, trying to catch their breath. When they got some back, they moved under the shade, sat down on the floor and gulped down cup after cup of fruit punch as they watch their classmates drag their feet along the sand trying to complete their laps.

Another 20 minutes later, some of the men started strolling in and joined them under the shade. The last man that came in was the one who called Nakhti a Satan, his name was Nehal. He was only given 10 minutes to catch his breath before Nakhti came over and all the men immediately stood at attention with the exception of Nehal who was sprawled out on the floor. "GET UP OR GET LOST!" Nakhti shouted in his face, clearly not amused.

Immediately, Nehal shot up and stood at attention beside his classmates. "Now! Everyone will do push ups until I tell you to stop, get moving!" Nakhti commanded fiercely. Fortunately, they were under the shade away from the sun as they started their next exercise. Sets of push ups, crunches, sit ups and jumping jacks continued all the way to lunch time.

As they went inside the dining room to get seated for lunch, some of the friendlier guys introduced themselves. The men were all exhausted and there was still half a day left for Nakhti to 'torture' them!

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><p><strong>Please Review!<strong>


	10. Chapter 10

**I own nothing.**

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><p><strong>The Pharaoh's Memories (Chapter 10: Atem gets down to business)<strong>

"speech"

'thoughts'

*sound effects*

{locations}

;;;;;;;; time shift ;;;;;;;;;

* * *

><p>Previously:<p>

As they went inside the dining room to get seated for lunch, some of the friendlier guys introduced themselves. The men were all exhausted and there was still half a day left for Nakhti to 'torture' them!

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><p>{In the throne room, 1 week after his coronation}<p>

The Pharaoh went back to the throne room after lunch, there were still many judgements he needed to pass as chief arbiter of the people. He took his seat at his throne with Shimon taking his place to Atem's right and Yugi stood a little behind the throne in case the Pharaoh had any instructions for him. Atem then signalled to High Priest Seto to call forth the next person. "Pharaoh, two commoner women, Itet and Bahiti requests an audience with you to request your help to settle a dispute." Seto announced after a guard entered the room and whispered to Seto the names and request of the women.

"Send them in." Atem ordered. At his command, the guards opened the door and another two guards ushered the women in. One of the guards was carrying a child no older than 8 months old. The two women knelt down and bowed. Pharaoh Atem leaned forward a little, interlocking his fingers and resting his forearms on his knees, he addressed the two women, "What brings the two of you here to the palace today?"

"Oh Pharaoh, you got to punish this evil woman who claimed that this child is hers and tried to kidnap my child." The woman named Itet started explaining. However, before she can continue to explain further, Bahiti interrupted her and spoke up, "I'm evil? Hah! You are the evil one because you tried to kidnap my child! Pharaoh I beseech you to help put this kidnapper in the dungeons forever!" At that, the two women started arguing among themselves about who is the evil one and who was the mother of the child.

Pharaoh Atem raised his eyebrow, appalled at the scene in front of him. Shimon seemed to get the cue and clapped his hands loudly to silence the women. "How dare the both of you treat this place like a marketplace?! Do I need to remind you are in the presence of the Pharaoh?" Chuckling to himself, Atem raised his hand to stop Shimon from continuing and cleared his throat to gain everyone's attention.

"So let me get this straight… Both of you claim this baby to be yours, is that correct? So you want me to find the true mother of the child and send the imposter to prison?" He asked the two women who silently nodded in response. Atem held him chin and rested his elbow on his other hand, thinking of a method to prove who the liar is. After a few seconds, his eyes lit up and he smirked, "Well that's easy, GUARDS! Bring a sword and a table here." He ordered.

One of the guards went up and unsheathed his sword and presented it to the Pharaoh while another brought in the table. Atem then ordered "Put the baby on the table." The guard silently obeyed. Bahiti's eyes widen in surprise when she realised what the Pharaoh was going to do when he stood up, took the sword and walked over to the table. "Pharaoh, please don't cut my baby in half!" She begged. "Why not? Doesn't this solve everyone's problem?" Atem asked in fake surprise as he raised the sword above his head. Itet smirked and agreed with the pharaoh. "Pharaoh, if you are going to cut the baby in half, I would rather that you give the baby to Itet and send me to the dungeons." Bahiti continued.

"Hmmm…" Atem pretended to think about whether to continue. He pointed to Itet and asked "Cut him in half?" "Yes Pharaoh, that way we both win don't you agree?" Itet replied. "Hmmm…" Then he pointed at Bahiti and asked "Send you to the dungeons and give the baby to her?" Bahiti nodded and answered "Yes Pharaoh, I will do anything so long as you don't cut the child."

Smiling, Atem passed the sword back to the guard and walked back to the throne and sat down. "Yugi, you know who is the real mother?" he whispered to his personal servant standing dutifully behind him. "Yes Pharaoh, you figured it out as well, haven't you? It's Bahiti, isn't it?" Yugi whispered his answer. Atem nodded.

"Guard, return the baby to Bahiti and take Itet to the dungeons," Atem ordered. "What! Why? I'm the child's real mother!" Itet screamed out, glaring at the Pharaoh. Pointing at Itet, he stared right back at her unfazed by the death glare she was sending him, he then proceeded to explain. "Are you trying to insult me by lying? The real mother of the child would do anything for the safety of her child even if it means that she will be locked away in the dungeons. You were willing to kill to child so easily, how could you possibly be his mother? Guards, remove her at once." The guards hurriedly dragged Itet away.

"Thank you Pharaoh. The sayings are true, even though you are young, you are indeed a wise ruler." Bahiti said as she bowed in great respect for the king.

"It was your selflessness that helped me determine the real mother, tell me how did both of you end up claiming that child to be yours?" Atem asked her, smiling warmly at her.

"Itet and I were friends, living in the same house, we each gave birth to a boy at around the same time. She bore a grudge towards me because there was one time there was a huge misunderstanding between us. One day, her child accidentally rolled onto his stomach in his sleep, she was also asleep so she did not realise that. Her child suffocated to death that night. In the morning, she woke up earlier than me, when she realised that her child had died, she switched the children, taking my child and placing the dead one beside me. I guess she thought that she could take her revenge if she manages to convince you that I was the liar." Bahiti explained.

"I see, fortunately she wasn't able to control her anger towards you and took it out on the child as well that she was willing to sacrifice it." Atem nodded in understanding. "I'll be on my way now, thank you so much, wise ruler of Egypt." Bahiti thanked him again before bowing and leaving the room.

The rest of the day's cases were quite mundane. At around 2 hours before sunset, Seto announced that there were no more requests for the day. "Alright, then all of you are dismissed." He commanded. The high priests and grand vizier all bowed and left the room, leaving the Pharaoh and Yugi alone in the room. "It's been one week, how are you finding it? Oh yeah, before you ask whether you can speak your mind, please do." Atem asked Yugi. Yugi had his head slightly lowered but he laughed softly and answered "It's quite exciting actually, to see the different problems the people have and how you always have the answer to their problems."

Atem creased his eyebrows a little and stared at Yugi, "Did I say something wrong sire?" Yugi asked him worried that he said something wrong that had upset him. Without warning, Atem placed his thumb on Yugi's chin and pushed upwards, forcing Yugi to look up. "Much better," Atem replied smiling at him "when we are alone, look at me while talking to me, understand?"

Surprised by his actions, Yugi was at loss for words but he nodded quickly. He was hit by a sense of nostalgia, the way the Pharaoh looked and spoke to him was so familiar. Now it was Atem's turn to get worried when Yugi suddenly went silent. "Is there something wrong?" he asked Yugi. "Huh? Oh no Pharaoh, forgive me for staring." Yugi quickly snapped out of his 'dream' of himself and his other self enjoying themselves in his world. "It's alright, let's go then." Atem ruffled his hair and started walking towards the door with Yugi close behind.

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><p><strong>I wanted to come up with something to show Atem's wisdom so I decided to follow the story of King Solomon. Hope you guys like it!<strong>

**Please feel free to review =D**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hi! I want to thank everyone who reviewed the story, I appreciate it a lot! **

**I own nothing.**

* * *

><p><strong>The Pharaoh's Memories (Chapter 11: Atem's free day)<strong>

"speech"

'thoughts'

*sound effects*

{locations}

;;;;;;;; time shift ;;;;;;;;;

* * *

><p>Previously:<p>

Yugi quickly snapped out of his 'dream' of himself and his other self enjoying themselves in his world. "It's alright, let's go then." Atem ruffled his hair and started walking towards the door with Yugi close behind.

* * *

><p>"Good morning Pharaoh, it's already 9am." Yugi said as he entered the bedroom to wake the slumbering king. "Yawn… Thanks Yugi, good morning." Atem replied as he sat up on the bed with a big yawn as Yugi passed him the tray of breakfast. "What's the schedule today?" Atem asked Yugi who was currently laying out his clothes for the day.<p>

"Hmm, there is no cases to judge today. Oh! There is a meeting with the council after lunch today. Other than that, you will be quite free today Pharaoh!" Yugi replied with a cheeky grin. "Alright then, let's have some fun today. Have you seen your friends recently?" the young Pharaoh questioned. Although Yugi was his servant, he thought of him as more of a friend and a confidant and asked Yugi to treat him as such when they were not in public. Just the other day, he had a dream of himself dressed in the strange attire Yugi and his friends were wearing when they first arrived in Egypt and he was in a world where there were tall buildings with bright signboards. 'It seems like a fun world to live in, maybe those are my 'locked away' memories that Yugi was talking about' he thought when he woke up.

"The last time I saw them was one week ago Pharaoh." Yugi answered his question. "Hmm then let's go to the training grounds today." Atem informed Yugi as he tied the belt around his Shendyt. Yugi passed him his Nemes and his gold accessories. He took the Nemes and the gold bands but rejected the earrings saying that if he decided to run around, those things will be bothersome. With that, they were on their way to the training grounds.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

{At the training grounds}

"Come on! Swing your arms faster your legs will move faster!" Nakhti loud voice boomed across the grounds. "Come on guys 10 more laps to go!" Jono encouraged the rest of the class. The surviving 15 recruits were in the middle of a team endurance run. They are supposed to run 40 laps while working together to carry along sacks of sand with a combined weight of 350kg. The men placed the sacks on a big wooden plank and they spread out around the plank to carry it together. They were currently on their 30th lap, many of them were exhausted but slacking off a little would mean that everyone else had to take on a heavier load. These men had really bonded together and no one wanted to be a burden for their buddies so everyone just sucked it up, grit their teeth and pressed on with the run.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

When the men finished their last lap, Nakhti had given them a 20 minutes break. As the men went under the shade for their break, Atem and Yugi reached the training grounds. The men obviously didn't see the king walked into the grounds as some of them were lying on the ground while others were sitting against the wall enjoying a drink. Atem raised an eyebrow wondering what in the world had they been doing that they could be so tired so early in the morning. "Pharaoh!" Nakhti immediately bowed when he saw the young king walk onto the training ground.

Upon hearing the trainer's loud voice, all the men immediately stood at attention and bowed as well. Chuckling, Atem raised his hand and told them, "Relax, you can go back to your resting." Turning back to Yugi, he told him, "You can go join your friends, if you want to." Nodding, Yugi thanked him and ran to join Hond and Jono. The rest of the men went back to their resting just as the Pharaoh ordered.

"YUGI!" Jono gushed out tackling his best friend into a hug, enthusiastic as always. "Yo! Long time no see Yugi!" Hond said patting his friend's shoulder. "What are you doing here?" Jono continued as he let go of his friend. "HAHA good to see you guys! The Pharaoh's schedule is quite free for today, so he decided to come here to have some fun." Yugi answered.

"Fun?" Hond asked. Lifting his shoulders up and down, Yugi answered "I'm not sure what he meant but that's what he said. "I'm sure we'll find out soon enough." Hond replied deciding to leave it as that. "So… How are you doing anyway, we haven't talked in one week!" Jono decided to change the subject. "Me? Oh the same as usual just the other day the Pharaoh asked me about our world, he said he dreamt of being in our world. I think that is some of his locked away memories coming back, don't you think?" Yugi told his friends excitedly.

"Haha yeah I think so! That's great!" Hond answered his friend, ruffling his hair.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

Meanwhile, the trainer and the young Pharaoh were sitting in the stands, "How are the recruits, Nakhti?" Atem asked the trainer. "They are still learning my king, I'm training up their physical strength and stamina before we move on to anything else." The trainer replied. "HAHA but some of them still look pathetically weak don't they?" Atem asked, letting out a laugh.

"Haha some of them but there are strong ones as well, Pharaoh!" The trainer continued. "Like?" Atem asked again. "Like the two men Pharaoh had assigned to join the guards, Jono and Hond. They are the strongest in the class. There are some others who also has come a long way from when they first started. The men may become the few elites in your army sire" Nakhti answered the question. "Hmm… I guess you are right, Jono and Hond are fit and strong guys." Atem conceded. "As the commander-in-chief of the army, I think I shall personally test the strength of these men today." Atem declared, smirking. Signalling one of the guards, Atem whispered some instructions to him before he bowed to leave to carry out the instructions.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

After 20 minutes, Atem walked down to the field with Nakhti following behind him. "Fall in men!" Nakhti commanded.

"Talk to you later Yugi!" Jono patted Yugi's back before he and Honda ran to the field to fall in. "Yugi" Atem gestured him over. Yugi quickly ran over. Passing him his Nemes, Atem told him, "Here hold this for me! Go sit in the stands and rest or something"

"Yes Pharaoh." Yugi bowed as he took the Nemes and walked towards the stands. 'What's he going to do?' Yugi asked himself as he was walking. No doubt he was going to find out soon enough. "Listen up, you should be honoured that the Pharaoh himself has decided to test your strength today! Give your 200% effort and no slacking off!" Nakhti addressed the men standing in two straight rows. "Yes Sir!" the men shouted in unison. "Let's get to work then!" Atem smirked, this is going to be fun. "All of you will go for a run first while the guards finish setting up the course. I'll go easy on you, you don't have to carry anything. Just run until I tell you to stop." Atem commanded as the men started their run.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

After 20 minutes, Atem called them back to the start point. "I'm sure you all noticed the items set up over there. I gave some instructions just now to add some obstacles to the course. Have a look." Atem gestured to a corner of the stadium.

At that corner of the stadium, there were multiple obstacles like a 2 metre-high stone wall, crawling stations, a high beam with ropes and other stations. "Show me the strength of the soldier in you as you tackle this course!" Atem declared, trying to motivate the men.

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><p><strong>I decided to show Atem's physical strength that he trained up after his Father's death as I figured he was a teenager and had a lot of energy to burn and to 'show off', that's why he decided to take on some of the training duties. With this, I also can start unlocking a very small small part of his memories. <strong>

**Please Review!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Hello! I'm back! **

**I own nothing.**

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><p><strong>The Pharaoh's Memories (Chapter 12: Atem shows his strength)<strong>

"speech"

'thoughts'

*sound effects*

{locations}

;;;;;;;; time shift ;;;;;;;;;

* * *

><p>Previously:<p>

At the corner of the stadium, there were multiple obstacles like a 2m high stone wall, crawling stations, a high beam with ropes and other stations. "Show me the strength of the soldier in you as you tackle this course!" Atem declared, trying to motivate the men.

* * *

><p>{At the training grounds, obstacle course section}<p>

Picking up a 20kg sandbag, Atem slung it on his back and prepared to hit the course. He decided that the fastest way to demonstrate to the men how the course should be tackled was to do it himself. "Pharaoh should you really be doing this? What if you hurt yourself?" Nakhti immediately objected when he realised what the young king wanted to do. "I'm sure I'll be fine Nakhti, this is a piece of cake." Atem smirked before turning to address the men standing at attention. "Watch carefully to see how you should run the course. The timing you need to hit to pass is 4 minutes 30 seconds."

"Yes Pharaoh!" With that, Atem took off the starting line reaching the wall first, he climbed over it easily. Next came a low sand crawling pit with barbed wire overhead, he quickly leopard crawled under it and ran to the next station. He climbed the rope to the top before turning around to jump and hung onto a set of monkey bars that descended to the ground again. After the monkey bars was balance beams station made using wooden logs. The last station was a run down to the finish line. With that, Atem finished with a time of 3 minutes 20 seconds.

Wiping the sweat off his forehead, he strode over to the watching men, "It's your turn now, starting from Jono." One by one they went clocking in their timings. At the end, the best timing came from Jono with 3 minutes 43 seconds with Honda just lagging a little behind. The rest of the men also passed the course with passable timings.

"Good work everyone! As a reward for the whole class passing, you may rest till after lunch." Atem told the men as he turned around to head towards the stands.

When Atem was busy running the obstacle course, Yugi hurriedly returned to the palace to take a towel figuring that Pharaoh may want to wipe himself dry when he finished his run. "Thanks Yugi! You really read my mind. I was planning to ask you to run back to help me get a towel, looks like you beat me to it" Atem said ruffling his hair and he took the towel that Yugi handed to him. "Haha you're welcome! You are really agile Pharaoh, you were doing secret training on your own?" Yugi replied, giving a big smile. "After what happened to Father, I decided that I would train myself up so that I will be able to protect myself and not let others worry about me. Haha! Let's head back to the palace for lunch." Atem explained as he took the Nemes from Yugi and passed him the towel.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

{At the palace after lunch}

"Hmmm… Where to now?" Atem asked himself as he took the last bite of his bread. It wasn't every day that he had so much free time so he was planning to make full use of it. "Pharaoh, don't forget about the meeting with the council." Yugi reminded him. "Oh yeah! I totally forgot about that, it's lucky you reminded me." Atem said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Pharaoh, it's the job of the personal servant to remind you of such stuff isn't it?" Yugi told the young king. "Hmm… I guess so. Let's get going before we are late and get nagged at by the council." Atem said as he got up from the dining table.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

{At the throne room}

When Pharaoh Atem and Yugi arrived at the throne room most of the council members have already arrived. The members were made up of the Grand Vizier, High Priests, heads of the various ministries like health, national security, etc. **(A/N: Some of the heads were the high priests themselves)** and the three elders (who were distant relatives from an older generation of the king, they acted as advisors). They bowed as the Pharaoh walked past them and took his seat at the throne. As usual, Yugi took his position behind the throne while Grand Vizier Shimon took his place at the right of the throne. The council were lined in two rows at the base of the steps and they turned to face the Pharaoh as he got seated.

"So… Give me a report of the happenings in Egypt." Atem started. High Priest Mahado stepped up first, he held the position of High Priest as well as the head of national defence. "Intelligence reports suggests that our neighbours, the Hittites, are increasing their armoury and training for their soldiers." Mahado reported.

"Hmm, that is a problem. The Hittites had always wanted some of the land of Egypt to boost their economy. Mahado, inform the blacksmiths to start on the prototypes of the new weapons and the chariots that we discussed about earlier. The sooner we finalise the designs of the weapons and chariots, the better chance we have of going up against the Hittites. Make sure this is done in absolute secrecy, no information of this should be leaked out to our enemies." Atem ordered. The tension in the room seemed to have increased a thousand fold. "Oh yes, keep watching the Hittites, I don't want them to spring a surprise attack where we might end up with a lot of casualties." He continued. "Yes Pharaoh." Mahado responded.

Next up was Seto, he was in charge of national development on top of his duties as High Priest. He oversaw the welfare of the whole nation reporting directly to the Pharaoh. "The storm season is approaching, I was like to request for the reinforcement of the dams near the Nile to ensure that our fields do not get flooded and washed away if the dams crack under the increased water pressure." He reported. "Very well Seto, you have my permission go ahead with the reinforcements." Atem nodded in approval. "Thank you Pharaoh!" Seto responded as he stepped back in line.

Next, a guy by the name of Adio who was head of manpower stepped out. "There are quite a lot of people who came to Egypt from the East seeking asylum but that has caused great unemployment in the city." He reported. Isis, who wielded the millennium necklace with the power to foresee the near future stepped out, "Pharaoh the millennium necklace had showed me that if the huge amount of unemployed people do not find something to do soon, they may involve Egypt in a riot so big that it may destroy us."

Atem closed his eyes for a while, thinking about the solution to the unemployment crisis. "In light of the possible attack from the Hittites, we shall open positions for recruitment of soldiers. Mahado, what is the strength of the army?" Atem asked after contemplating for some time. Mahado stepped out and answered, "We have around 600,000 soldiers in our whole empire at present Pharaoh." Nodding, Attem answered, "Alright then, we shall recruit another 100,000 soldiers. What do all of you think?"

"An excellent solution Pharaoh, with more trained soldiers we will be at a greater advantage." Mahado responded. "This may help curb the riot as well Pharaoh" Isis replied, nodding in agreement. "So it's settled then." Atem brought an end to the conversation.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

{Two hours into the meeting}

"Anything else?" Atem asked, getting quite restless from sitting for so long. One of the elders step out, it was Atem's aunt, Femi. "I have a matter to bring to your majesty's attention but…" She trailed off, looking at the heads of departments who were not the High Priests from the corner of her eye. Atem got her hint and ordered, "The High Priests, Shimon and the elders stay behind. The rest of you are dismissed." The people who were dismissed bowed and left the room.

"You seemed to have forgotten one person Pharaoh." Femi pointed to Yugi. Turning around to look at Yugi for a moment before turning back. "Nope, Yugi can stay, he is my personal servant after all. What matter do you have to bring to my attention, dear aunt?"

* * *

><p><strong>Author's note:<strong>

**In case you were wondering, the job Jono and Hond are training for is the guards, the job of the guards is to solely protect the king and the royal palace. That's why they are recruited in smaller numbers. **

**Soldiers for the army are different from the guards. However, both of them are managed under the same department (the national defence department). Hope that clarifies things!**

**Please review! **


	13. Chapter 13

**Hello! Thank you all who reviewed and fav the story! I own nothing.**

* * *

><p><strong>The Pharaoh's Memories (Chapter 13: The dreaded topic)<strong>

"speech"

'thoughts'

*sound effects*

{locations}

;;;;;;;; time shift ;;;;;;;;;

* * *

><p>Previously:<p>

"You seemed to have forgotten one person Pharaoh." Femi pointed to Yugi. Turning around to look at Yugi for a moment before turning back. "No, Yugi can stay, he is my personal servant. What matter do you have to bring to my attention, dear aunt?"

* * *

><p>"The matter is regarding producing an heir for the throne, Pharaoh. You are already 17 years old, old enough to marry someone so that she can produce a royal heir." Femi said seriously. "Sigh… This topic again? I told you the last time I will not just marry any girl that you bring into the palace. There at least has to be some love between us before I will consider." Atem sighed, exasperated that were going to talk about him getting married again. "Pharaoh, pardon me for saying this but we will not take no for an answer this time. How would you find a girl when the only girls you talk to are Isis and your childhood friend, Mana?" Femi continued her argument.<p>

"Fine! So the bottom line is, you just want me to get acquainted with some more girls, right? I'll leave it to you to invite them then so that we can get to know each other. But let me make it clear that I will have the final say as to whom I will marry. If there isn't anyone I find pleasing, sorry to tell you I won't just settle for anyone." Atem declared as he got up to leave. He decided that it was pointless to argue with them on this matter. "Let's go Yugi."

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

{Along one of the many hallways}

As they walked towards the training ground again, Atem let out a sigh in frustration. He felt that he was too young to get married. Yugi walked slightly behind him laughing softly to himself, turning back to face Yugi, Atem frowned and asked his personal servant "Is it really that funny? I'm suffering here Yugi! What should I do? Argh"

"Sorry Pharaoh, I couldn't help it, it seems like you were going to make a huge hole in the ground with that sigh, are you alright?" Yugi asked, concerned for the young king, "As for what you should do, just treated that meeting as an opportunity to make new friends and not to find your future bride." With that, Yugi started laughing again when he saw Atem's exasperated expression. "Sigh… I'm alright I guess, maybe you're right… Either way there's no escaping this time." Atem huffed in defeat.

{At the training grounds}

Atem decided that he was going to jog with the recruits to let off some steam. "You guys are going for a run with me. You can't stop until I do, let's go" Atem instructed the recruits as he took the lead and started the run. "Well I guess that's one way to let off steam." Yugi talked to himself, not noticing that Nakhti was right beside him listening. "Letting off steam? You mean the Pharaoh?" Nakhti asked Yugi, making him jump in surprise. "Oh! Err yeah, he was unhappy about something just now but I guess he'll be fine soon." Yugi said vaguely, not revealing any further details.

After the 50th lap around the track, Atem decided that all his pent up frustration has been released, he allowed the exhausted men to go for a water break. Yugi passed him a towel again and a glass of water, "You feeling better now Pharaoh?" Yugi asked him. "Yeah, much better thanks!" Atem replied him as he sat down in the shade on the floor too tired to walk back to the palace for now. He already decided to spend the rest of the day here, "Yugi, inform the kitchen staff I will have my dinner here." Yugi's eyes widened in surprise but he decided not to comment lest he made the young king angry, which would mean that the poor exhausted men would need to go for another run. To spare them the unnecessary exercise, Yugi bowed and left to carry out his instructions.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

At first the dinner was rather awkward and tense, the recruits seemed to be afraid of eating at the same table as their king. Atem also asked Yugi to join in, to which Yugi agreed and took a seat in between his two best friends. However, after the men got some alcohol into their system, they lightened up a little and the mini 'party' became more enjoyable. Nehal, who was sitting beside the Pharaoh asked out loud, "Pharaoh! I thought I should tell you that you are too fit for our own good, you might accidentally kill us by making us run so much!" Knocking Nehal on the head, the recruit beside him quickly apologise, "Forgive him Pharaoh, he's drunk!" while try to shake his drunken friend out of his stupor, "Quick! Apologise to the Pharaoh!" He hissed. "Hahahaha! It's alright we're here to have fun isn't it? No offence taken but I'm surprised that all of you managed to keep up with me! Good job!" Atem laughed and gave them all a thumb's up.

Atem decided that this was the most enjoyable day of his life ever since he became king. At that moment, he completely forgot that he was frustrated at the council for bringing up a marriage again. Yugi was also having a lot of fun with his friends, they talked about their lives so far and how different it was compared to the foreseeable future when they were back in their world. They also talked about Anzu and how she would complain that they left on an adventure without her. "Shall we play duel monsters?" Jono suggested.

They found their duel monsters deck in a store near the royal dungeons some time back. They found out that when they were arrested the first time, the guards took away all their belongings and threw them into the store but when they were released forgot to give them back. Yugi, Jounouchi and Honda were so relieved because they had always thought that the guards had burnt all their stuff when they got arrested. They promised each other that they will play duel monsters when they had some free time in the future.

"Mmm good idea! Let's go! Haha… Pharaoh, can I go back to my room to take something? I won't take long" Yugi asked. "Sure! I'll be right here!" Atem replied. With that, Yugi sped off to grab his cards and the playing mat before heading back to the courtyard near the training grounds where everyone was.

When Yugi returned, the three of them went off to the side to start their game. Jono and Yugi were up first with Honda placed in charge of calculating both player's life points. "Go easy on me Yugi! It has been a while since I last played." Jounouchi playfully told Yugi. Yugi laughed and told Jounouchi, "Haha, it's has been a while since I last played too you know!"

"Hmm, let's use these rules. The sacrifice summoning rules, the direct attack on the players will be allowed, no God cards, fusion summoned monster will not be able to attack on the turn they were summoned, each deck should only have 40 cards and each player will start with 4000 life points." Yugi suggested to which Jounouchi agreed and Honda took note of the rules since he was acting as referee for the duel.

Yugi and Jounouchi took some time to put their decks together for their duel, making Yugi reminisce about the times where he and his other self would spend a whole night to put their deck together for their duels in a tournament. Yugi wondered whether Atem would remember what duel monsters were and how it was played. The title of King of Duelists belonged to him after all. Pushing these thoughts out of his head at the moment, Yugi finished up putting his deck together. Soon after, Jounouchi was done as well.

"Let's go! Duel!" Both players said in unison as they started the game.

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><p><strong>Please review!<strong>


	14. Chapter 14

**I own nothing.**

* * *

><p><strong>The Pharaoh's Memories (Chapter 14: Some memories come flowing back)<strong>

"speech"

'thoughts'

*sound effects*

{locations}

;;;;;;;; time shift ;;;;;;;;;

* * *

><p>Previously:<p>

"Let's go! Duel!" Both players said in unison as they started the game.

* * *

><p>{At the courtyard near the training grounds}<p>

Yugi and Jounouchi battled their hardest, each refusing to give up, true duelists would give their all for every match even if their opponent happens to be their best friend. Atem had taught them that back in Domino City. Yugi had 1500 life points left and Jono had 1000 life points. "I end my turn and the effects of swords of revealing light disappears." Jono declared. "My turn, draw. *Smirk* Jounouchi, looks like I win!" Yugi said as he revealed the card he drew. "I sacrifice Magnet Warrior Alpha and Kuriboh to summon Black Magician. Go Black Magician! Attack Alligator Sword" Yugi declared. "The attack of Black Magician is 2500 and the attack of Alligator Sword is 1500, the difference is 1000 points. Sorry Jounouchi looks like you lost to Yugi again, haha" Honda patted Jounouchi in the back. "Keh… It's okay, Yugi is a master at duel monsters, I don't mind losing to him." Jounouchi countered. "You fought well Jounouchi, I just got lucky that's all." Yugi said as he gathered all his cards into one pile.

"What are you doing?" Atem strode over to the three of them. "Pharaoh! We're playing a game! A card game to be more specific. We used to play it together when we were younger" Yugi explained. "Interesting! These are the cards you use to play?" Atem asked pointing to the deck of cards Yugi was holding. "Mmmhmm, it's called duel monsters, holding up the first card from his deck which happened to be Black Magician for Atem to see.

As soon as Atem saw Black Magician, he saw a flash and had a vision, the kind that he saw in his dreams.

{Vision mode}

He was in the city with the tall skyscrapers and in a match he was playing a weird card game and holding the card Yugi had just shown to him. The guy he was playing against looked a lot like Seto.

{End of vision mode}

Shaking himself out of his vision, Atem walked up to Yugi, "Can I take a closer look at that card?" He asked. "Sure!" Yugi replied passing the card to him. "He remembered something! I'm sure of it" Jono whispered to Yugi. "Mmm, Black Magician was my other self's favourite card after all." Yugi whispered back as he and Jounouchi both looked at the Pharaoh staring intently at the card and tracing the card with his fingers.

"Ummm, Pharaoh are you alright?" Hond asked. Snapping out of his thoughts, Atem turned to them and smiled, "Yes I am. Thanks! Somehow I had a strange vision when I saw that card, Yugi do you think it's related to my 'locked memories'?" He asked. "I'm sure of it Pharaoh! This card was your favourite card after all!" Yugi replied. "I see" Atem replied taking one last look at the card before returning it to Yugi. "Say… Will you teach me how to play duel monsters?" Atem asked the three of them. "Of course!" They answered enthusiastically.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

As the evening wore on, Yugi, Jono, Hond and Atem were having a lot of fun playing duel monsters together. The men were also having lots of fun singing and dancing around. At around 9pm, Pharaoh Atem decided that it was time to head back to the palace. Yugi agreed as he too was feeling tired. Yugi said goodbye to his two friends and ran to join Atem who was waiting for him to walk back to the main palace compound. "I had fun today, did you?" Atem asked Yugi.

"I had lots of fun today! Thank you!" Yugi answered smiling with the radiance of a thousand sun. "That's good" Atem said, ruffling Yugi's hair. He seemed to have developed a habit doing that. Although Yugi was older than him, Atem was a lot taller than him which sometimes made Atem feel that he was the older one who was looking after Yugi. Besides, it was fun to ruffle someone's hair.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

After he was dressed and climbed into his bed, Atem sat up and looked at Yugi who was clearing up all the dirty laundry. "Yugi" He called. "Yes Pharaoh?" Yugi looked him at questioningly. "To tell you the truth, I don't know what to expect of the upcoming dating session and I don't even know what to do." Atem admitted. "Haha, don't worry Pharaoh, I'm sure you will do alright. Just remember you are simply making new friends so just act normally. Also, please remember that I will always be by your side to help you with anything." Yugi reassured him. "Let's hope that you are right Yugi! You seem like an expert on this kind of things hahaha!" Atem told his personal servant, smiling impishly at him. Yugi sputtered but quickly regained his composure, "I'm not an expert! I only had one or two girlfriends before coming here... Anyway, we'll cross the bridge when we get there. The meeting is in two weeks so there's still time. Goodnight Pharaoh." Yugi quickly bid him goodnight to escape further questions about his girlfriends. "Goodnight Yugi." Atem smirked at Yugi's reaction. Yugi smiled and blew out the candle illuminating the room and closed the door behind him.

Walking along the hallway to go to the laundry room to drop off the dirty laundry, Yugi thought back on the day's events. The joy of spending the day with his best friends, the sudden announcement that the elders were going to find Atem some girls to meet, the prospect of Atem going to get married and the highlight of the day was definitely playing duel monsters again and subsequently, Atem getting back some of his memories through looking at his favourite duel monsters card.

'What an eventful day!' Yugi thought to himself. 'Now to look forward to tomorrow' as he walked back to his room.

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><p><strong>I did not write a full duel because I felt that it would make it too draggy and more importantly, I didn't know how to write a full duel hehe! So I decided just to write the back end of it. Hope you enjoyed the chapter! <strong>

**Please review!**


	15. Chapter 15

**I own nothing.**

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><p><strong>The Pharaoh's Memories (Chapter 15: The day of meeting girls)<strong>

"speech"

'thoughts'

*sound effects*

{locations}

;;;;;;;; time shift ;;;;;;;;;

* * *

><p>Previously:<p>

'What an eventful day!' Yugi thought to himself. 'Now to look forward to tomorrow' as he walked back to his room.

* * *

><p>{Two weeks later}<p>

The day has come! Atem had been dreading this moment since last week, he felt that he wasn't ready to get married although Yugi kept reassuring him that he was there just to get acquainted with new friends and not to choose his bride. "Ugh, can't you just tell them I fell seriously ill or something?" Atem asked Yugi as he put on his clothes. "Your majesty, it's not that I will not lie for you but do you think they will really believe me? They would probably just send a doctor who will let the cat out of the bag anyway." Yugi argued. "Ugh… I hate being king." Atem said as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Haha but you make such a great king, Pharaoh!" Yugi joked although it didn't seem to be working as Atem seemed to be wallowing in his own emo corner. "Sigh… Come Pharaoh, we won't want to be late." Yugi said as he pulled Atem to his feet to ensure that he gets to the throne room on time to meet his guests.

After some fussing, Atem finally got up and went to throne room. 'Make friends, make friends' He kept repeating in his head. When he got there, the guests had already arrived and had been properly seated on chairs that were brought in, the high priests and elders had also arrived early. "Pardon me, I had something to see to just now." He said as he walked up and got seated trying not to let his anxiety show.

"Pharaoh, I would to introduce you to these fair maidens who have travelled far to come here to the palace." Femi started to which Atem got up and approach all the ladies seated. "First, we have the princess of the land of Byblos." Atem exchanged a greeting and took her hand and kissed it. "Next, the first and second princesses of Nubia." Atem did the same thing for the two sisters. As the introductions wore on, Atem realised that the girls the elders invited were either princess from their neighbours or daughters of high ranking Egyptian noble families. Although many of them were beautiful, from the greetings he already did not like some of them who had an 'I am mightier than thou attitude'.

'This is going to be a long week…' Atem shook his head. After taking his seat, Atem welcomed his guests, "I welcome all of you to my palace. I hope you will find your stay here comfortable and enjoyable. The servants will escort you to your rooms shortly and I await your arrival for lunch in the dining room." Atem announced like a gracious host.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

{Back in Atem's room}

"Just kill me Yugi!" Atem whined as he flopped onto the bed. Patronisingly, Yugi decided to continue the conversation, "Pharaoh, if I killed you, wouldn't I be killing myself as well?" Yugi answered chuckling to himself. Staring at him like he was an alien, Atem quickly regained his poker face and said "Wow, I didn't expect that hahaha."

"Haha, I'm glad you're laughing, that means you're feeling better huh?" Yugi continued. "Hmmm, I guess but did you see the amount of girls back there, Aunt Femi overdid it this time. The joys of being king." Atem replied. "So you like anyone in particular?" Yugi asked.

"YUGI! You better not continue this conversation or I'll personally drag you to be punished. You're supposed to be on my side!" Atem exclaimed exasperated, though he was kidding about the punishment part. Yugi didn't seem to get the joke, he just stood there stunned before immediately before pouring out countless apologies, thinking that the Pharaoh was extremely angry. "Yugi relax, I was only joking. To answer your question, nope not yet but there are some I already don't like at all." Atem slung his arm around the older (but shorter) boy's shoulder. "Ohhh…" Yugi mumbled with his head lowered, earning him a friendly slap on the shoulder by Atem.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

After Yugi got over his shock, it was almost time for lunch. Deciding to be early for once, Atem left his room and swiftly made his way to the dining hall. Some of the girls haven't arrived yet so Pharaoh decided that he would get to know more about the girls who are already there. "Hi. I'm Atem." He approached the Byblos princess and started awkwardly. "Good day Pharaoh, I'm Phoenicia." She replied with a curtsy. "Are you enjoying yourself so far?" Atem continued, thinking that the elders would leave him alone if he did try to get to know the girls better even though he did not choose any one of them. "Yes Pharaoh thank you, you have a very nice palace and I do hope to see more of it." Pheonicia answered. "Haha. I guess a tour is in order then, are you free later after lunch?" Atem asked like a gentleman, he decided that this girl was one of the nicer ones and he didn't really mind spending some time with her. "You are so kind Pharaoh, thank you! Yes I will be free later" Pheonicia replied with a smile.

After making small talk with some of the other girls, the 'late ones, who not coincidentally were the ones that had the 'I am mightier' attitudes', finally arrived at the dining hall. Atem took his seat at the head of the table and the rest of the girls found their seats as well.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

The lunch went quite smoothly although there were moments of awkward silence before Femi would start up another conversation. The lunch lasted for close to two hours and after it was over, Atem asked whether anyone else wanted to go on a tour of the palace with him and Pheonicia. A few others accepted his offer and soon they were off, Atem walked in the middle of the ladies with his trusted servant, Yugi, right behind him. He showed them the different rooms and explained to them the carvings and drawings on the walls and pillars. "Yugi, run ahead and ask the servants to prepare some refreshments for us, no need for snacks just some drinks will do." He whispered to Yugi who bowed and quietly walked in the opposite direction to carry out the instruction.

As the palace was so huge, the tour took around 2 hours to complete and they moved to the entertainment room, where there were dancers and music, for their refreshments and took a break from all that walking. Atem sat there mingling with the ladies making mental notes of their names and where they came from. Soon after dinner time came, the atmosphere at dinner was much lighter than lunch and Atem was feeling more comfortable now.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

"What a waste of a day!" Atem lamented as they were walking back to the bedroom compound. "Well, you seemed to have enjoyed yourself Pharaoh, especially during the tour and the dinner. Isn't it okay if you took a break every once in a while? It's not good to always keep working." Yugi commented. "Hmph, I am not going to dignify that with an answer." Poking his tongue out at Yugi before laughing. Yugi laughed at the show of childishness from the Pharaoh, he may act like a stoic Pharaoh in front of the rest of his subjects but underneath that façade is a playful teenager who is determined to live out whatever is left of his childhood to the maximum.

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><p><strong>The girls nightmare is almost coming to an end. Tell me if I can improve or add anything in the upcoming chapters!<strong>

**Please review!**


	16. Chapter 16

**Thanks StarGlow and all those who gave your reviews! **

**I own nothing.**

* * *

><p><strong>The Pharaoh's Memories (Chapter 16)<strong>

"speech"

'thoughts'

*sound effects*

{locations}

;;;;;;;; time shift ;;;;;;;;;

* * *

><p>Previously:<p>

"I am not going to dignify that with an answer." Poking his tongue out at Yugi before laughing. Yugi laughed at the show of childishness from the Pharaoh, he may act like a stoic Pharaoh in front of the rest of his subjects but underneath that facade is a playful teenager who is determined to live out whatever is left of his childhood to the maximum.

* * *

><p>{One week later}<p>

After having the last lunch with the girls, it was time for them to return to their homes. Atem stood up and said, "I would like to thank all of you for accepting the invitation to come here to spend the week. I am glad to have gotten to know more about all of you and I look forward to meeting all of you again." Though he really wished that the last part of the sentence would not come true. It was just too many girls for a single guy to handle.

The girl's handmaids were currently loading the multitude of luggage with the help of some of the palace's servants onto the carriage while the girls took turns to say goodbye to the Pharaoh. Approaching Pheonicia, Atem took her hand and planted a light kiss on it and told her, "I hope you had a good time here." Returning his smile, she replied, "I did Pharaoh! Thank you for inviting me to spend some time here in the palace." Smiling, Atem continued, "Well, I sincerely hope that I will see you again soon. Have a safe journey home." Yugi was standing at a corner, hiding a discrete smirk as he watched and listened to the current conversation of the Pharaoh and Princess Pheonicia. So much for "I will not like anyone", he knew that the Pharaoh was feeling something different for Pheonicia as compared to the rest of the girls.

The elders had a plan when they invited over 20 girls, they hoped that one of them would hit the target, they were secretly praying that this Pheonicia was not going to turn out as a near miss because the rest had already been confirmed as a miss hit.

After sending off all his guests, Atem went to the library to get some quiet time to catch up on his work. As he stared at the mountain of paperwork on his desk, he rubbed his temples and buried himself in his work, determined to finish it by the end of the day. Yugi sat at a corner, busying himself by reading his textbook on Egyptian history that he found in the storeroom together with his duel monsters deck. He decided that he could finish his studies by himself even though there was no school to teach him. He had become very proficient in the Egyptian language and the writing system in the first few months that he had been here, now he was an expert on everything Egyptian.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

At certain intervals, Yugi would go out to refill the pot of drink for the Pharaoh, who was still trying to level the mountain on his desk. When evening came, Atem stopped for dinner and asked Yugi to eat with him in the library. Surprisingly, no one came to disturb him, not even Aunt Femi, whom he was almost certain that she would come to ask him about the girls.

It was almost 11pm by the time Atem was done. Stretching his stiff muscles, he called Yugi, "I'm done! Let's go back to the room." Yugi closed his textbook and put it away, "Okay!" he replied and followed him out. As they were walking along the hallway, Atem noticed Yugi in a daze, he wasn't walking straight too "Too much studying?" He asked concerned.

"Perhaps… I have a bit of a headache but I'll be fine I guess. Oh yeah, the elders had requested an audience with you tomorrow morning." Yugi replied.

"Grrr, I knew they wouldn't let me off that easily," Atem grumbled, "You can have tomorrow off if you're not feeling well, I don't mind." Shaking his head, Yugi declined his offer, "I'm sure I'll be fine after a good night's rest. Besides Jono's and Hond's graduation is tomorrow as well. I won't want to miss that."

"Oh that's right! So I'll have to be there as well, it's in the late afternoon right?" Atem asked. "Yup, that's right." Yugi confirmed.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

{In the throne room, the next day}

"How did you find the girls, your majesty?" Femi stepped out and asked. Atem deciding to get a little revenge on them, "There were too many of them, in my opinion." He replied, not really answering the question. Femi raised an eyebrow but decided to stay silent. "If you must know, I decided to be friends with Pheonicia but not the rest. Just FRIENDS for now so don't go having any wild ideas." Atem continued, emphasising on the word 'friends' before he was shoved into preparations for a marriage. "I see… I'm glad you at least decided to make one friend, Pharaoh!" Femi answered smirking, "so I assume you want to let nature take its course huh?" Femi continued.

"Yes dear aunt. I am not going to rush into anything, let me think about it and I'll see whether sparks fly between the both of us. Are we done?" Atem replied in the sweetest voice and innocent look he could muster. "Yes I guess so, for now…" Femi replied. 'For now sounds ominous though' Atem thought to himself as the council filtered out of the throne room, leaving Atem and Yugi alone in the room.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

*SLAM* the doors flung open and a very distressed looking Mahado ran in. "Pharaoh! I have a urgent report!" Atem raised an eyebrow at the distress of his friend and trusted high priest. "What is it Mahado?" trying to quell the sense of dread in the pit of his stomach. "While inspecting the borders with some of the soldiers, the millennium ring led me to the mountainous area at our border and there I spotted some Hittites scouting the area." Mahado reported, panting heavily. He must have ran all the way through the palace to be panting this much. "WHAT!" Atem immediately stood up.

"Were they planning to attack so soon? The training for the new soldiers have only just started." Atem said, not particularly directing the comment to anyone. "Pharaoh…" Yugi mumbled. "Do we issue a high alert status for the army?" Mahado asked the young Pharaoh. Atem took a breath in and out before calming himself and sat down again. "Did Isis see anything with her millennium necklace?" He asked Mahado. "Not that I know of, sire." Mahado dutifully replied. Atem pointed to a servant who was on duty at the door, "Call High Priestess Isis here." The servant bowed and ran out of the room in search of Isis.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

He found her in the ritual chambers, a room where all things holy took place. "Pardon me High Priestess Isis," the servant bowed as he entered the room, "the Pharaoh requests your presence immediately in the throne room."

Snapping out of her vision of the Pharaoh's imminent question, she nodded and told the servant that she would be right there and told the servant to wait outside for her. He bowed and left the room. Closing her eyes, she tried to see whether the millennium necklace was going to show her the answer to the question that the Pharaoh was going to ask but alas nothing. Sighing deeply, she left the ritual chambers to go meet with the young Pharaoh.

* * *

><p><strong>Unfortunately<strong>**, Atem decided that he wasn't going to marry anyone after all... Nice try Aunt Femi! However, trouble seems to be brewing, can Atem gather his wits and work together with his 'new-found' friends to overcome it?**

**Please review!**


	17. Chapter 17

**I own nothing.**

* * *

><p><strong>The Pharaoh's Memories (Chapter 17: Is a war approaching?)<strong>

"speech"

'thoughts'

*sound effects*

{locations}

;;;;;;;; time shift ;;;;;;;;;

* * *

><p>Previously:<p>

Closing her eyes, she tried to see whether the millennium necklace was going to show her the answer to the question that the Pharaoh was going to ask but alas nothing. Sighing deeply, she left the ritual chambers to go meet with the young Pharaoh.

* * *

><p>"Isis, did you have any visions recently?" Atem asked the older lady. "About a war?" Isis asked. "Yes." Atem replied. "Please forgive me, your majesty but there hasn't been any visions that indicate a disaster on Egypt recently. The last one was the impending riot because of the high number of refugees but we managed to avoid that disaster." Isis reported, bowing her head.<p>

"I hope that's a good sign and not that we are heading straight into a war with the Hittites without even knowing it!" Atem thought out loud. "Mahado, get the smiths to quickly produce the prototypes. There must not be any more delays, I want it ready in two days' time. Isis, keep us posted on any visions." He ordered gravely before leaning back in the throne and massaging his temples.

"Pharaoh? You alright?" Yugi asked slowly when he noticed the deep frown on the Pharaoh's face and to which Isis and Mahado stepped forward in concern. "A war with the Hittites will not be easy on anyone in the kingdom. On the other hand, we also cannot give in to their demands. The last time we went to war with them we almost lost, if not for the creation of all the millennium items that granted us with the power to triumph over them. What do you think Yugi?" Atem asked as he got up and paced the floor in front of the throne, he knew that Mahado and Isis would not start preaching about how a Pharaoh do not need to ask a mere servant for his insight about such issues. Mahado and Isis were very close to him and both of them knew that the Pharaoh was as close to Yugi as he was to them. Moreover, Yugi had deep insights to many of their problems and was able to give valuable advice every time.

"Yes Yugi, tell us what you think. We know you have some ideas about it." Isis coaxed Yugi when she saw his hesitation to speak out in front of them. "Well… I know it's not right for a mere servant like me to speak out so boldly like this." Yugi started. "It's alright Yugi, Isis and Mahado won't mind, just tell us what you think." Atem placed his hand on Yugi's shoulder to reassure him. Mahado and Isis nodded in agreement.

"It is quite suspicious of them to start scouting the borders but to buy some time for us to get ready, we cannot make any reckless moves. Even the upgrading of our weapons should be done in secret so that they won't use that as an excuse to attack us while we are still building our armouries. I feel that what we should watch the Hittites army's movement, see whether their armies are making any suspicious movements. This way, even if the millennium necklace doesn't provide us with a vision, at least we will not get caught off guard." Yugi commented. He took a deep breath and continued, "According to what I read, the Hittites would usually attack with high powered weapons like catapults but because of that they move fairly slowly therefore we must make sure that our chariots are fast and manoeuvrable so that we can take them by surprise and dodge the stones hurled at us by the catapults. Our chariots would be our secret weapons if they attack us. That's what I think Pharaoh." Yugi finished.

"You speak like a wise man Yugi." Mahado was astonished at Yugi's analysis of the situation, to which Atem smirked, "I expected no less from my servant, haha! Let's take his advice and do as he says for now" Atem said as he patted Yugi's back. "Yes Pharaoh!" Mahado and Isis said in unison before bowing and left the throne room to carry out Atem's orders.

Turning to Yugi, Atem told him, "Let's get going, we're going to be late."

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

{Walking along the endless hallways of the palace}

There was not much time left as they rushed to get to the guards presentation ceremony on time. Walking briskly through the never ending hallways, Atem and Yugi reached the 'stadium' where the ceremony was held. Taking his seat at the throne placed at the front of the stands, Pharaoh Atem signalled for the ceremony to begin. Yugi watched the ceremony intently as the newly guards did routines of fighting skills, trying to spot his two best friends.

They took the stage sparring with each other using their swords. They shuffled around trying to find an opening before striking. However, when one lunged, the other would perfectly parry the attack, like a perfect fighter tasked with the protection of the king. It was coupled with punches and kicks to disarm and subdue the enemy.

After the fighting presentations, the guards continued with drills and it ended with the uniform presentation which marks the graduation of the class as trained guards. The 12 remaining guards of the class received their official uniform from Nakhti. Finally to mark the end of the ceremony, Pharaoh Atem came down to present the best recruit award. Jono proudly went up to receive the award given to him because of his outstanding strength and endurance and most importantly, his never say die attitude, much to the delight of Yugi and Honda who were just as happy for him. Honda stepped up to receive the best fitness award since the rule stated that the same person cannot receive the both awards.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

After the ceremony, the newly trained guards were scattered around the grounds, some talking with their families, some with their friends. Jounouchi and Honda stood off to a side, they had no family to accompany them after all, they were just glad they had each other and their best friend Yugi as well. "Hey! Congrats you two!" Yugi ran over to congratulate his two friends.

"Yugi!" Jono and Hond both went in for the bear hug before slinging their arms around his shoulders, messing with his hair in the process. "Thanks! The 6 months of training is finally OVER! Haha!" Jono exclaimed out loud, heavily emphasising on 'over'. Looking at them, Yugi realised that those two were darker and leaner than ever before, in fact, they looked good! "Mm, Jounouchi you even got the best recruit award! Haha congrats for that too!" Turning to Honda, Yugi continued, "Honda, congrats for the best fitness award, you were awesome!"

"Congratulations! I knew both of you would be able to complete the course with ease." a voice rang out. Looking up, they realised the voice came from the Pharaoh. Immediately both of them did a genuflection as a gesture of deep respect for the king. "Haha, you may rise. I have a proposition for you two…" Atem laughed out.

"Lately, the council has been pestering me to appoint guards to take charge of my protection so I thought why not choose you two. That way I can be free from their constant nagging and you three can spend more time together. How's that for killing two birds with one stone? Hahaha" Atem suggested, to which Jono and Hond immediately agreed. "However, you will only be required when I leave the palace or when I am receiving guests from the other kingdoms or when attending to public requests for audiences, okay?" He asked. "Yes Pharaoh! Your wish is our command." Both of them replied smoothly, before turning to each other smiling like kids in a candy shop.

"You mean it Pharaoh?" Yugi looked at him with his eyes practically shining. "Yeah. I'm serious Yugi unless you don't want it." Atem said. "No, no… I meant that I will be so happy if that could happen. Thank you Pharaoh!" Yugi gushed out. "Haha... You're welcome then." Atem messed up his hair even more. Atem lost both his parents, he had no family left and could be considered as in the same boat with the three of them who were thrown into Egypt, separated from their families. He was glad that they considered him as a good friend in private even though he had lost all his memories about them in the first place.

He was glad that after spending so much time with Yugi, he was starting to gain back some of his memories. 'I'm looking forward to the day when I gain back all my memories of the time we spent together.' Atem thought to himself as he stood with his good friends.**  
><strong>

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><p><strong>Please review!<strong>


	18. Chapter 18

**I own nothing!**

* * *

><p><strong>The Pharaoh's Memories (Chapter 18: The Hittites present their conditions)<strong>

"speech"

'thoughts'

*sound effects*

{locations}

;;;;;;;; time shift ;;;;;;;;;

* * *

><p>Previously:<p>

He was glad that after spending so much time with Yugi, he was starting to gain back some of his memories. 'I'm looking forward to the day when I gain back all my memories of the time we spent together.' Atem thought to himself as he stood with his good friends.

* * *

><p>{2 days later}<p>

"Finally they are done, huh?" Atem questioned when Mahado had come in to report that the smiths were ready for him to go and test out the new weapons and chariots personally.

When they got to the blacksmith's workhouse, the weapons and armours were laid out neatly on the table. Putting on the armour with Yugi's help, he commented "Hmm, these armours are sturdy yet light, well done." He took them off and placed it on a dummy made of straw. Picking up a sword, he lunged at the armoured dummy. The sword hit the armour with a clang but it did not penetrate the armour, it only made a dent. Smiling, he picked up a stone mace, positioning himself, he swung the mace with all his strength which took the head off the dummy. "A little heavy but it'll be perfect for the soldiers with better arm strength." He commented again as he moved on to the next weapon.

After testing all of the weapons and armour, he turned to the last item to be tested. The chariot, the first of its kind. It allowed two people to ride on it, one with a big shield and a sword and the other equipped with a long ranged weapon like the bow or the crossbow. Atem hopped on and asked Yugi to join him. After much protest, Yugi relented and joined the young king. The guards secured two horses to the chariot frame and handed Atem the reins. "Haah!" Atem snapped the reins and the horses took off. The chariots were fairly stable and fast, with Atem able to expertly steer the chariot without overturning it. All the way, Yugi stood there frozen, he did not move a single muscle for fear of falling off but the Pharaoh was clearly enjoying himself. When he brought it to a halt, Yugi gingerly stepped off and went to the side to throw up all his breakfast. "It's good but try to improve the amount of vibrations coming through the frame. Once that is done, start production. We need the orders completed in three months, I give you permission to utilize all the royal smiths in the palace." He instructed before walking to check on his servant who was still green at the gills.

"You alright Yugi? Sorry about that, I didn't think you would not be able to take it." Atem apologized. "It's okay Pharaoh. I'll be fine in a while" Yugi assured him. "Haha, why don't I make it up to you by bringing you to this awesome eatery I heard about the other day to refill your stomach since I see that you threw up all your breakfast."Atem offered. After another round of hurling, Yugi looked a bit better but turned down the Pharaoh's offer for lunch but instead suggested they went there for dinner instead. Atem agreed and decided he wanted to go to the eatery incognito.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

Dressed in a normal tunic instead of the Royal Shendyt and wearing a Khat which was a simpler version of his usual Nemes to hide his unique hairstyle, he looked like an ordinary noble who was going out for dinner with his friend. He also forced Yugi to wear clothes similar to his and to put on Khat as well because Yugi had the same unique hairstyle which would blow their cover straight away. Once they got ready, they set off, taking with them the newly appointed king's guards, Jono and Hond.

{At an eatery along one of the streets}

"Hey Pharaoh…" Yugi whispered. "Hmm?" Atem turned to face Yugi. "Isn't that an envoy contingent?" Yugi asked. True enough, there was a small contingent of guards flanking a guy who was riding on a brown steed. At the front, there was a soldier carrying a flag as they made their way through the streets to the royal palace.

Atem eyes widened when he saw the design of the flag. It was the Hittite flag. "Damn…" Atem cursed. "Pharaoh, isn't it a little late in the day for them to come?" Atem asked him. "Yeah! Do they even have a sense of time?" Jono chimed in. "Hush you guys, let him gather his thoughts first." Hond said, sensing the king's inner turmoil. "In any case, let's head back to the palace first." Atem concluded, placing the money on the table for the meal.

Mounting their horses, they took a shortcut back to the palace to ensure they get back before the contingent reaches. Atem went to his room, with Yugi, to get changed and asked Jono and Hond to station themselves in the throne room just in case. Yugi also changed there because his uniform was also in thee Pharaoh's bedroom when Atem forced him into nobility clothes to go out with. After they were done, he sat at the desk in his room to wait for Shimon to come and inform that the Hittite envoy had come to seek an audience with him. Right on cue, Shimon knocked on the door urgently, "Pharaoh! Are you asleep?" He asked from outside the door. "No Shimon, you may enter." Atem answered. Bursting through the door, Shimon had a worried look, "Pharaoh, the Hittites envoy had…" he trailed off when he saw the Pharaoh already properly dressed to meet the Hittites. "You knew? Did Isis tell you?" Shimon recovered and completed his sentence. "Nope Isis did not tell, I saw them coming just now." Atem smirked as he got up to leave the room with Yugi in tow.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

{Throne room}

Atem reached the throne room with the envoy already inside waiting. The high priests had all gathered in the room with Jono and Hond taking up positions beside the foot of the stairs leading up to the throne. Yugi, Shimon and Atem took to their usual positions.

"What brings you to my kingdom this late in the day?" Atem asked the envoy. "A message from our king, Pharaoh." The envoy replied, trying to mask his fear of the younger boy. 'The power he exudes makes people tremble despite his small size. Atem leaned forward, interlocking his fingers that gave him the look of an evil mastermind plotting something, all he needed now was a fluffy white cat to complete the look. "Heh! It must be so important that it should be delivered now instead of waiting till tomorrow morning." He taunted.

Clearing his throat, the envoy unrolled a scroll that contained the message and he read out, "The King of the Hittites declare that Egypt shall hand over the piece of land just across the river Nile, Kadesh, that original belonged to the Hittites or risk a bloodbath that will plague the land of Egypt. Your deadline will be in two months." With that, he rolled up the scroll and handed it to Jono to pass it to the Pharaoh. "What insolence! How dare you come to our land and make such an audacious request!" Seto boomed out as he rushed to grab the envoy. "Seto! Let him go!" Atem commanded, to which Seto complied. Furrowing his eyebrows, Atem addressed the envoy, "Go back and tell your king that I will consider it. You may leave now." Bowing, the envoy adjusted his coat and left the room.

"Pharaoh! Why did you not just have him killed for his insolence?" Seto questioned.

"And give the Hittites a reason to declare war on us now? We are not ready yet!" Atem countered, to which Seto fell silent.

"Mahado, by hook or by crook, I don't care how the smiths and the army trainers are going to do it, we have to get everything ready in two months." Atem ordered. "Seto, start inspecting and reinforcing our city walls. Kalim and Shada, for now you have to help out in the training of all the soldiers of our army. Everything must be done in secret, don't let the Hittites suspect for a moment that we are planning a counterattack on them. Shimon and Isis, for now we shall pretend to comply with their requests, start relocating all the residents of Kadesh to the capital for now. Bide your time and try to complete the relocations just in time with the two months deadline." Atem ordered. He had a long discussion with his friends yesterday night about all the possible scenarios and start to come up with plans of action.

"Yes Pharaoh!" The high priests replied, all of them surprised at their Pharaoh's determination. If the Pharaoh was that confident, there was no reason for them to doubt. "If it is a bloodbath they want, a bloodbath they'll get but the blood that will stain the land will be their own." Atem narrowed his eyes dangerously.

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><p><strong>Please review!<strong>


	19. Chapter 19

**Glad to hear that some things are close to reality. I tried to do some research to make it as real as possible but I faked some areas to be able to keep it related to Yugioh. Thanks for your reviews! On to chapter 19!**

**I own nothing.**

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><p><strong>The Pharaoh's Memories (Chapter 19: The storm approaches)<strong>

"speech"

'thoughts'

*sound effects*

{locations}

;;;;;;;; time shift ;;;;;;;;;

* * *

><p>Previously:<p>

"Yes Pharaoh!" The high priests replied, all of them surprised at their Pharaoh's determination. If the Pharaoh was that confident, there was no reason for them to doubt. "If it is a bloodbath they want, a bloodbath they'll get but the blood that will stain the earth will be their own." Atem narrowed his eyes dangerously.

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><p>{2 months passed}<p>

"Pharaoh, your army is ready and all sufficiently armed." Mahado reported. The soldiers all underwent intensive training regimes on physical and weapons handling to get ready for the imminent war. "Hmph… The gullible king of Hittites had given us enough time to be organise our troops for an attack. If it was two months back, they would be able to wipe the floor with our bodies." Atem commented.

A guard entered to inform the Pharaoh that the Hittite envoy was in the city and making their way to the palace as they speak. "O Great Pharaoh, I suggest we should lure the enemy to Kadesh and attack them there. The citizens have already evacuated that city and it should be fairly easy to defend ourselves there." Seto stepped forward and gave his opinion. "I see… What do the rest of you think about Seto's suggestion?" Atem asked, cupping his chin. The rest of the high priests nodded in agreement, with the exception of Isis. "Isis? Is there something wrong?" Atem questioned concerned.

"I have seen the land stained with the crimson of the blood of the soldiers. The enemy is prepared to fight to their deaths, we will not have an easy fight on our hands." Isis reported with sadness in her eyes. "It can't be helped, I'm sure our soldiers would rather to die standing in their blood then to live on their knees in defeat. For the peace of our land and our Pharaoh, we will all readily give our lives for its protection." Mahado declared, placing an encouraging hand on Isis's shoulders.

"That's right and as Pharaoh I shall do my part as well. I shall be at the battlefield every day as this war rages on, to play my part and to do my share of Egypt's defence." Atem smirked, to which everyone in the room fell silent and stared at him in disbelief before Shimon spoke up. "Pharaoh! The battlefield is a dangerous place! You should stay in the capital instead of going there."

"Shimon, I will not hide here like a coward while my people are fighting on the battlefield. I can promise you this to ease your nerves. I promise not to physically go and fight on the front lines. Okay?" Atem said determinedly, ending further protests on his going near the battlegrounds.

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The envoy stepped into the throne room holding a scroll. He walked up and bowed slightly, "Pharaoh, I bring you another message from the King of Hittites." He unrolled the scroll and cleared his throat softly. "Pharaoh of Egypt, two months is up! I hope you have the deed to the land ready, you can pass it to my envoy who will in turn pass it to me." The envoy read the scroll and after finishing, rolled it up. "Unfortunately, the deed is not kept here, it's kept at Kadesh itself. I shall go with you to retrieve it, Yugi go prepare the horses." Atem ordered with a slight smirk which unnerved the envoy slightly.

Mounting the horses, the whole party left for Kadesh. Unbeknownst to the envoy, majority of the army has already been moved to Kadesh and lying in wait for the Pharaoh's order to attack. As they reached Kadesh, Atem pretended to go get the deed from the government office and the envoy waited outside on the streets. While standing there, Seto moved in from behind and with a swift stroke of the sword, he beheaded the envoy. When the Hittites soldiers realised what happened, they all reached for the swords hanging by their waists but were all struck down by some of the soldiers lying in wait for them.

Re-emerging from the office, Atem swiftly gave his orders to Mahado and Seto to position all the soldiers. Yugi was quite puzzled as to why the Pharaoh should not wait for the deadline to pass but instead kill the envoy. "The envoys represents the king that sends them, killing them would mean that you are attacking the king himself. Killing him would send a stronger message that we are not going to just bend to their will as compared to just letting the deadline pass." Atem explained. "I see, what a waste though." Yugi said in reply. Turning to Kalim and Mahado, Atem ordered, "Dispose of their bodies, if an envoy doesn't return to the kingdom after a certain time, the king will send the army to attack our land. Make sure we are prepared by then." Kalim and Mahado bowed and left to carry out the order.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

Yugi helped the Pharaoh put on his armour first before suiting himself up as well. Atem has been busying putting up the maps of the areas on the walls and the plans on the large table in the centre of the room. Pouring over all the maps, Atem summoned all the commanders into the room. "We should form our defence line over here and attack further ahead, we cannot let the enemy cross the defence line or the city will be in danger." Atem ordered pointing to some hilly terrain to form the defence lines. "Seto and Mahado, you will lead the commanders to organise their troops in attack. Shada and Kalim, you will take charge of the defences."

For nearly 4 hours, the high priests and various platoon commanders formulated various plans of attack and defence with their Pharaoh. When everything was finalised, the respective high priests took the lead and lead the troops they are in charge of to their respective places. The high priests role was to stay go out to the front lines but not engage in battle. They were supposed to gather information and apply the respective plan of action for the soldiers to follow and at certain intervals report back to the Pharaoh.

At sunset, the enemy struck, charging straight at the Egyptian armies lying in wait for the Hittites. The loud battle cry and the loud pounding of the drums can be heard from miles away in the heart of Kadesh where Atem was situated with Yugi and the remaining high priests. Isis sat in the 'command room' silently praying, "Great Gods, hear my prayer, keep our soldiers. and with your power, grant us the strength to strike down our enemies and grant the Pharaoh the wisdom to lead our armies to victory so that our people could live in peace again." Turning to Atem, she saw that he was still looking at the maps on the walls trying to locate the supply lines of the Hittites but intelligence was scarce as the battle had just started. After a while, he would sit down and take a break, with Yugi constantly at his side making sure the Pharaoh did not collapse from exhaustion. Jono and Hond took turns to guard the young king throughout the day so that they would ample rest as well.

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As the sand settled over the horizon after one week of fighting, the land had been stained red from the blood of the fallen soldiers. Scores of dead bodies littered the land, unfortunately, the Hittites managed to push them back a few miles and the Egyptians had suffered heavy casualties. The high priests all gathered back in the command room to give their reports. Together with Atem, they tweaked their plans to counter the battle style of the Hittites to be able to fight more effectively. After that, they left for their posts again. Atem let out of huge yawn, he hasn't had a good sleep in a week. "Pharaoh, you have not slept properly in a week, perhaps you should a little break to catch up on some sleep." Yugi pleaded with the king concerned over his wellbeing. At first Atem brushed off his pleas but the high priests chimed in saying that a tired mind will not be able to make good decisions and eventually he gave in and took a much needed break.

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Soon, the fierce battles resumed again but this time, the Egyptians were more prepared for them and unleashed a torrent of arrows that rained down upon the Hittites that forced them to retreat into the open fields. The Egyptians then chased them with the chariots and attacked with full force. Again the small battles started, however this time the Hittites had the losing end of the stick. After 2 months of nonstop fighting, the Egyptians had managed to wipe out three contingents of Hittites warriors. Just as Isis had predicted, the Hittites fought to their last man, none of them retreated or surrendered, although the Egyptians managed to defeat them, the Hittite soldiers managed to take thousands of Egyptian soldiers down with them.

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><p><strong>Please review!<strong>


	20. Chapter 20

**I finally reached chapter 20! Please tell me how you find it so far :)**

**I own nothing!**

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><p><strong>The Pharaoh's Memories (Chapter 20: The battle of Kadesh – Yugioh version)<strong>

"speech"

'thoughts'

*sound effects*

{locations}

;;;;;;;; time shift ;;;;;;;;;

* * *

><p>Previously:<p>

After 2 months of nonstop fighting, the Egyptians had managed to wipe out three contingents of Hittites warriors. Just as Isis had predicted, the Hittites fought to their last man, none of them retreated or surrendered, although the Egyptians managed to defeat them, the Hittite soldiers managed to take thousands of Egyptian soldiers down with them.

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><p>{Nearing the end of the war}<p>

The war had entered its fifth month. It was at a deadlock, both kingdoms had taken down an almost equal number of enemy's soldiers. The total death toll steadily rose to close to 5 thousand men and Atem was getting quite impatient. Slapping his fists on the table, "They just keep coming like pests that can't seem to be exterminated." He didn't expect it to drag on for so long and wanted to secure Kadesh and drive the Hittites away as soon as possible. "My predecessors fought hard to conquer Kadesh and it has been under our reign for so many generations, I will not be the Pharaoh who loses it to the Hittites. No matter what the cost, I will protect this city." Atem declared.

A few days ago, some of the commanders had suggested that they send out 4 divisions of men to surround the enemy from all sides to engage them in a final battle. They had quite the debate as some other commanders had said that splitting the army up like that may allow the enemy to overpower one side and break free if their timing wasn't perfect. In his impatience to end the war, Atem just agreed with splitting up the forces and attacking the enemy, deciding that the plan should be carried out today. Little that he know that it will be his first major tactical error.

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As the troops split up in four different directions to their respective attack positions, the division who headed east, Amun division was ambushed by a huge army of Hittite soldiers, they were severely outnumbered and cannot not break out of the trap the enemy had set for them despite their superior weaponry. The rest of the Egyptian did not get word about the ambush till three days later. The Amun division managed to send out messengers to obtain backup and to report back to the command centre. Bursting into the room, the messenger bowed then reported, "Pharaoh! The Hittities! They knew! The Amun division walked straight into their trap!"

Pharaoh Atem was furious! Not so much at the commanders, but at himself. He knew that he messed up in his haste to end the war, without thinking he grabbed his helmet, ran out and mounted his white stead and sped off. Jono and Hond quickly mounted their own horses to chase after their charge, "Pharaoh! Please turn back, it's dangerous on the frontlines!" Both of them shouted as they chased Atem. In record time, Atem managed to reach the Amun division at the same time as the South division, Ptah division. The Amun division that left the city gates with 3000 men had barely 600 men left.

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As he took in the scene laid out before his eyes, Pharaoh Atem became enraged, he cursed himself for letting this happen and summoned his courage before charging straight at the attackers. The eye of the millennium puzzle glowed brightly, bestowing Atem with the power sealed in the millennium puzzle. The strength of the God, Ra. The Egyptians believed that the Pharaohs are the sons of Ra and when the millennium puzzle was created with the blood sacrifice, Ra sealed his strength in the millennium puzzle to be called upon in times of need by the Pharaoh. That was why the millennium puzzle was proof that its wielder was truly the Pharaoh of Egypt.

Using the strength of God sealed in the puzzle coupled with his own strength, Atem was a one man army and he was unstoppable at the moment, cutting down any enemy that he laid his eyes upon. Jono and Hond covered his left and back respectively, cutting down the enemy who managed to avoid the Pharaoh's swinging blade. The demoralised soldiers found renewed resolve when they saw their Pharaoh fighting alongside them and was actually overpowering the large number Hittite attackers. The Egyptians started fighting back with Atem at the front with his two guards fighting to push the attackers off Egypt's soil.

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Four hours since he entered the battlefield, Atem kept going although he was tired and every muscle in his body was screaming out of fatigue. When he lost focus for a moment, a Hittite wielding a mace managed to break through Jono to reach his side and swung his mace with full force. Atem managed to recover fast enough to duck low to avoid getting hit. The second swing was not as powerful but fatigue had slowed his reaction and Atem managed to raise his sword to block but the mace knocked the sword out of his hand and crashed onto the side of his head. *Clang* the metal mace made contact with Atem's helmet. Everything went black as Atem lost consciousness.

"Pharaoh!" Hond shouted out managing to manoeuvre his way through the dozen foot soldiers without trampling on anyone and catch the Pharaoh who blacked out and was falling off the horse. Jono managed to overpower his own attackers to get back to Atem's side and helped Hond pull Atem up onto his horse. "Jounouchi! We have to get back quickly!" Hond shouted, to which Jono agreed as they began the task of making their way through the crowd without accidentally killing their own soldiers by trampling on them. "Hang on Pharaoh!" Jono cried out hoping that the blow to his head wasn't that serious.

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Two hours after getting hit in the head, Jono and Hond managed to reach back the secured city. "Open the gates and call for doctor quickly!" Jono shouted at the top of his voice to the soldiers guarding the city walls. A soldier with a telescope **(A/N: the kind pirates used)** managed to spot Jono and Hond ride at full speed towards the city and got the gates opened for Jono and Hond to ride in without stopping, at the same time calling for the doctor to go to the command centre. Hond carried Pharaoh into the room and carefully laid him on the bed. Honda started taking off all the armour he was wearing while Jounouchi reached out and placed three fingers on his neck trying to feel for a pulse. He heaved a sigh of relief when he felt a pulse, it was not strong but it was also not faint. Yugi burst into the room and was shocked at the sight of one his best friend out cold on the bed. "What happened?" Yugi asked with tears welling up in his eyes.

"The battlefield was chaotic and we got separated for a moment then a guy broke through us and managed to hit him on his head with a mace." Hond explained. Just then, the doctor came into the room and Hond explained to him what happened. Immediately, he got to work assessing the damage. "Doctor, how is the Pharaoh?" the three of them asked in unison. "I can feel the swelling on his head but there seems to be no signs of brain damage, the helmet he was wearing seem to have dissipate the force of the blow. We need to wait for Pharaoh to wake up first before I can do anything further. Please inform me when he is awake." The doctor instructed before leaving the room.

"Hmm... Come to think of it, not many of our soldiers died to their maces. Most died because of the slashes made by swords. The new helmets that was designed has saved many lives if you think about it. Also, the blow from the mace to the Pharaoh's head lost most of its momentum because it struck the sword first." Jono mused while watching the unconscious Pharaoh. Yugi left the room briefly and returned with a basin of water and a towel. Sighing, he sat at the edge of the bed and started wiping the sweat off Atem's body, "You shouldn't have been so reckless charging out like that. The battlefield is a dangerous place to be." Yugi softly chided the younger boy.

"Yugi…" Jono placed his hand on Yugi shoulder. "Jounouchi, Honda... Thank you for protecting him while he was out there and also… Thank you for not dying out there." As he stood up to put the basin aside. "Ha! I would take a lot more than a bunch of Hittites to kill us!" Jono exclaimed, trying to lighten the tense atmosphere in the room. Hond smirked at him, "Yeah Yugi! Don't worry about us, we will protect the Pharaoh and ourselves always."

*Knock, knock*, someone knocked on the door…

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><p><strong>Please review!<strong>


	21. Chapter 21

**I own nothing!**

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><p><strong>The Pharaoh's Memories (Chapter 21)<strong>

"speech"

'thoughts'

*sound effects*

{locations}

;;;;;;;; time shift ;;;;;;;;;

* * *

><p>Previously:<p>

*Knock, knock*, someone knocked on the door…

* * *

><p>Yugi went to open the door, "Lord Shimon, how come you are here at the front? I thought you went back to the palace with Lady Isis, Lord Kalim and Lord Shada?" he acknowledged the man at the door. "Isis had a vision of the Pharaoh getting injured, how is he?" Shimon asked Yugi. "The doctor said that he doesn't think that the Pharaoh has any brain damage. The helmet somehow protected his head from the blow. We are to call the doctor when the Pharaoh has woken up." Yugi told him.<p>

"I see… well there's nothing much I can do if he is unconscious. When the Pharaoh awakes, please inform me as well. Anyway, thanks for your hard work, all of you." Shimon said before leaving the room.

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It took a full day before Atem started to stir from his unconscious state. "Partner…" Atem called out in a daze when he saw the blurred image of Yugi. Yugi's eyes widened in surprise and he felt his blood run cold, it has been so long since he was referred to by that name. "Argh my head… where am I?" Atem blinked a few times to try to focus his vision and he looked around. However, the three of them were so stunned by Atem referring to Yugi as partner that no one answered his question. Atem then continued, "Argh, Jounouchi, Honda what are you doing here as well? Are we in Domino city?" as he rubbed his aching head.

Shaking his head and snapping out of his state of shock first, Jono answered, "No Pharaoh, we are back in Kadesh… You took a blow to your head on the front lines and we brought you back. I'll go get the doctor."

"I see..." Atem nodded. "Oi, snap out of it you two." Jono snapped his fingers in front of Hond and Yugi's face to try to snap them out of their shock before leaving the room to get the doctor. "How are you feeling, Pharaoh?" Yugi asked, secretly glad that instead of getting amnesia, Atem gained back even more of his memories. "Other than a splitting headache and being a little tired, I feel fine actually." Atem replied. "Y-Yugi… I-I remembered something from the past. I remembered that we took a big ship and we went to Duelist Kingdom which was a duel monsters tournament and in the end, we were duelling Pegasus and we won! Did that really happen?" Atem asked. Atem went on to explain in detail everything that they experienced in Duelist Kingdom. Yugi smiled softly at him, "Yes Pharaoh, it did! Is there any other things that you remembered?"

"Mmm, nope, after that it becomes blank again." Atem replied, rubbing his head. "I see… Don't worry Pharaoh! One day it will all come back to you." Yugi smiled and gave him a thumbs up sign. Jono soon returned with the doctor and Shimon following close behind. "How are feeling Pharaoh?" The doctor asked as he started measuring all of Atem's vital signs. "Just a pounding headache." Atem said warily. "I see, I'll have to do some tests, Pharaoh you tell me if you feel the pressure on your skin." With that the doctor took out a pointed stick and lightly poked at the skin and Atem answered that he felt it. The doctor continued this tests on various parts of the skin and fortunately, Atem felt it all. At least the injury had not affected his senses, which was a huge relief.

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After a few more tests, the doctor concluded that the Pharaoh may have a slight concussion that is causing the headaches and that he should remain in bed to rest. "The headaches will most probably go away once the swelling on your head is reduced, until then try not to move around too much Pharaoh." The doctor told Atem before bowing and leaving the room. Shimon then stepped up, "You heard the doctor Pharaoh, how about I asked High Priest Seto to take over the command for the war? He can come to report to you regularly." Shimon asked. "I have a feeling if I don't agree with you, you will start to nag at me so to spare myself a worse headache, I shall agree to it until this headache goes away then I'll take up the command again." Atem told Shimon, who said nothing but just smirked at him. Yugi, Jono and Hond were quite shocked that Atem agreed to Shimon's request so readily, that headache must have been really bad for him to willingly step back.

"You are dismissed Shimon." Atem said, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Very well Pharaoh, please have a good rest." Shimon replied before bowing and leaving the room.

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{After one week}

As he promised, Atem stayed indoors while he recovered from the blow to his head. At times, he would get severe headaches that he fixed by sleeping for the whole day. On days when he felt better, he would play board games like Senet or Mehen with either Yugi, Jono or Hond to pass the time.

"Knock, knock, your majesty, may I come in?" It was Seto at the door. Atem nodded at Yugi who went over to open the door for the High Priest. "Seto" Atem acknowledged the older man. "I have the latest report on the war Pharaoh." Seto reported, "We have managed to push the enemy back to the border. We will be starting our final attack to cut their supply lines and finally defeat their army." Atem nodded as he digested the incoming information, "We must not just defeat them, we must crush them and have them surrender so that we can have them exact tribute every year so that we can keep them weak and never again will the Hittites dare to set foot on our soil."

Bowing, Seto replied, "An excellent idea Pharaoh, your wish shall be my command. Please leave it to me." As Seto completed his sentence, Shimon joined them in the room, "Pharaoh, if I may suggest something…" Shimon started. "What is it Shimon?" Atem asked.

"High priestess Isis, High Priests Kalim and Shada had already returned to the palace to oversee the running of the nation. Since everything is falling to our favour, perhaps it is time for you to return to the palace as well. We can leave the conquest in High Priests Seto, Mahado and Aknadin charge." Shimon suggested. Seto also joined in the pleading as he felt the capital was much safer for the Pharaoh to rest and recover. "I promise to be back quickly to deliver the god news Pharaoh, please return to the palace to rest so that you can get back to state affairs as well." Seto promised. Atem did not say anything but nodded. "Then I shall prepare for our departure Pharaoh." Shimon said as he left the room. Seto looked at Atem and said, "If you will excuse me Pharaoh, I need to go finalise some details of the attack with Mahado. I shall send a report to you again in one week." With that he bowed and left the room.

Turning to Yugi, Jono and Hond, Atem told them, "Well, I guess you three need to start packing." "Yes Pharaoh!" They replied as Jono and Hond left the Pharaoh's bedroom to go to their own room to pack their things. Yugi started with packing the Pharaoh things first before packing his own belongings.

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Atem was welcomed back as a hero; the brave Pharaoh who single handedly took down hundreds of enemies. Apparently, Isis, Shada and Kalim had spread the news of his fight and intentionally left out the part of him getting knock down by the enemy. The citizens lined up the side of the roads and as he rode past them on his horse, they knelt down and bowed until he passed them before they stood up and continued cheering.

Isis, Kalim and Shada greeted the Pharaoh at the entrance of the palace. He acknowledged them as they followed him in as he made his way to his room. Yugi ran by a different way to get to the Pharaoh's bedroom to get the things ready for him to freshen up and to start unpacking.

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Atem stared with disbelief at the huge pile of papers stacked on the desk. He had been gone for five months because of the war and occasionally Shada would deliver some of the papers that had important matters that needed his decisions immediately. He never thought that there was so much to do, now that all the work has accumulated, Atem was slightly regretting that he had gone so long. "Argh, Yugi give me a hand with some of this." He groaned before settling down at the desk. Atem had such pleading eyes that Yugi found it hard to say no to, however he did insist that Atem took charge of all the important matters that was in the stack.

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><p><strong>Please review!<strong>


	22. Chapter 22

**I own nothing!**

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><p><strong>The Pharaoh's Memories (Chapter 22: The truth about Seto)<strong>

"speech"

'thoughts'

*sound effects*

{locations}

#Text#

;;;;;;;; time shift ;;;;;;;;;

* * *

><p>Previously:<p>

He never thought that there was so much to do, now that all the work has accumulated, Atem was slightly regretting that he had gone so long. "Argh, Yugi give me a hand with some of this." He groaned before settling down at the desk. Atem had such pleading eyes that Yugi found it hard to say no to. They did this in secret so that Atem would not get nagged at by the High Priests and risked Yugi getting punished as well.

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><p>{Two days later}<p>

"Pharaoh! There is news from the front from High Priest Seto!" A guard reported at the door of the study. Atem did not look up from his work but nonetheless replied, "What is it?"

"The attack has been successful and the Hittites has been crushed entirely. The Hittite king had issued a plea of surrender." The guard reported. "I see, get Seto to go ahead with the negotiations, I have already gave him some instructions previously." Atem ordered before the guard bowed and leave to give Seto the Pharaoh's orders. "Finally it's over. Let's take a break Yugi, I shall go visit my father's shrine."

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{At the shrine}

"Father!" Atem cried out and fell to his knees in front of his father's shrine. They were in the same underground shrine where his father brought him and at this very place, Aknamkanon told his son that he should always be strong. He had been here only two times in his life, the first was when his father brought him here and the second was just after his father's death. "Father, with the Gods and all my ancestors guidance, we managed to defeat the threat from the Hittites, so I just wanted to come to give my thanks." Pharaoh Atem said as he looked at the stone carvings of his predecessors, one day after his death his name will be carved on the stone walls too. All this while, Atem's faithful servant remained bowing and silent as the Pharaoh said his prayers.

At the corner of his father's shrine, Atem noticed a book peeking out from the back. Raising an eyebrow, Atem got up and walked closer and pulled out the book, it was his father's diary. "How did this get here?" Atem asked as he blew off the dust off the cover of the diary. "What's that Pharaoh?" Yugi asked. "It's my father's diary." Atem held up the book to show Yugi. "I'm done here, let's go up." Atem told Yugi who followed closely behind.

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{In Atem's room}

Atem sat his desk and placed the diary on the table. He figured that the last time he had been at the shrine, he was too distraught to notice the book. He opened the book and read the first entry.

# Today I was crowned as Pharaoh. To tell you the truth I am quite scared, I am only 25 and I don't know what goes into running a kingdom properly. Father did teach me a little but I am still hesitant. Tomorrow is the first meeting with the council, I hope it will not be too difficult to handle. Perhaps mother would have some advice for me. I think I shall go see her now. #

"Hmph… Typical of Father to keep a diary when he became Pharaoh." Atem smiled to himself, his father didn't share his feelings openly compared to himself which explained why there would be a diary. Turning the book to another page, Atem read the entry. This was on the day Atem was born.

# Today my wife gave birth to my first child, a son! My pride and joy. Mother suggested that I name him Atem, a variation of the name Atum, the God of creation. She explained that even though the name meant completeness, she wanted him to be the creator of a better and stronger Egypt when Atem became Pharaoh. What a wise woman mother is… Hahaha! Atem it is, the heir to the throne would now be known as Prince Atem. #

Smiling again, Atem thought to himself, "So that's how I got my name, Grandmother gave that name to me, I don't really remember much about her though." As he turned the diary by a few pages again, he read the entry, it was written on the day Aknamkanon's mother died.

# I feel this sharp pain in my heart, Mother died today of an unknown illness. Thinking back, Mother has been sick for quite some time so maybe I feel a little relieved that she would not feel any pain anymore. She told me a secret that Father and she have kept for a long time.

Turns out that Aknadin is my younger brother by one minute, we were twins. To prevent rivalry for the throne, they gave Aknadin to one of our relatives and they raised him up to be a High Priest while I was raised to become Pharaoh. They told Aknadin the truth when he finally became a High Priest when we were 20 years old and he told them that he understood why they would do that. They agreed to keep it a secret from me and Aknadin would continue to serve me when I became Pharaoh. I can't believe that they kept it from me for so long, should I tell Atem that Aknadin is his uncle and that Seto is his cousin? I don't know what to do… Atem is only 4 years old, perhaps I will tell him when he is older. I only found out when I'm 30 so I guess I shall keep this to myself for now. #

Atem closed the diary and placed the diary in the drawer. Yugi kept himself busy by organising his duel monsters cards since he finished all his work and chores. He noticed the disturbed look on Atem's face when he looked up. "Is there something wrong Pharaoh? You look quite pale." Yugi asked. "S-Seto is my cousin." Atem mumbled. Thinking that he heard wrong, Yugi proceeded to confirm what he heard, "High Priest Seto?"

"Yeah… and Aknadin is my uncle." Atem shook his head in disbelief. "Wow!" was all Yugi could manage. After all this time, two of his appointed advisors were his relatives all along. Atem had always thought that when his father died he had no relatives left and now he found out that he had two by his side all along. He wondered if Seto knew the truth as well because when he met Seto for the first time he told Atem that his father died in battle. Apparently, Aknadin abandoned his family to go on a dangerous undercover mission a long time ago and instructed his wife to tell Seto that his father died in a battle.

'Shimon would know something, I should go ask him since Aknadin is at the font at the moment.' Atem thought determinedly. "Yugi I need to go somewhere for a while, you wait here for me." The Pharaoh instructed before leaving the room in search for Shimon.

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Shimon was in one of the temples in the palace meditating. "Shimon" Atem called out to his Grand Vizier. "Pharaoh, with what do I owe the pleasure of getting a visit from my king?" Shimon responded with a hearty laugh but immediately stopped when he noticed the serious expression on Atem's face.

"I want to know the truth of my relationship with Aknadin. You would have known Shimon, don't lie." Atem started. "How did you find out Pharaoh?" Shimon was surprised. "I found my Father's diary in the shrine." Atem replied. "I see… I was told by Pharaoh Aknamkanon to never tell you the truth unless you found it out by yourself. He also told me to place the diary at his shrine." Shimon told Atem with a sad expression. "So it's true then? Aknadin is my uncle and Seto is my cousin?" Atem questioned. "Yes Pharaoh" Shimon said nothing but nodded as he waited for further questions. "Does Seto know? I remember he told me that his father died in a battle." Atem continued his questions. "No, High Priest Seto doesn't know. High Priest Aknadin told me that he would only tell Seto if you found out one day that you were his cousin." Shimon explained. "I see…Then I guess we have to wait for their return first. Will you tell Aknadin or shall I?" Atem asked. "It's up to you Pharaoh." Shimon told him.

"I'll let you do it then, they should back soon anyway. Good day." Atem concluded before leaving Shimon alone in the temple again. "Pharaoh Atem found out after all, Pharaoh Aknamkanon." Shimon sighed softly before returning to his meditation.

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><p><strong>Please review!<strong>


	23. Chapter 23

**Hey everyone! Thanks for your reviews! **

**I guess I felt that it would be easier for me to imagine how Yugi and Atem would converse and act around each other if I made Yugi shorter than Atem since I have only watched the anime and never read the manga. Thanks for telling me about their height discrepancies. **

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><p><strong>The Pharaoh's Memories (Chapter 23: Relatives)<strong>

"speech"

'thoughts'

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{locations}

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><p>Previously:<p>

"I'll let you do it then, they should back soon anyway. Good day." Atem concluded before leaving Shimon alone in the temple again. "Pharaoh Atem found out after all, Pharaoh Aknamkanon." Shimon sighed softly before returning to his meditation.

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><p>{2 days later}<p>

Seto returned with Mahado and Aknadin beside him. The city gates opened to welcome back the brave warriors with the citizens cheering from the roadside. The high priests were in front on their horses and all the surviving soldiers from the battles marched behind them, some on foot and some riding horses as well. It was a bloody battle, they lost around 8000 men but with the strength of the Gods, the Egyptians came up tops and retained hold on Kadesh.

While the soldiers and commanders returned to the different army camps to disperse home, the High Priests moved on towards the palace. Atem, Isis, Shada, Kalim and Shimon met them at the entrance of the main palace building. They bowed deeply to Atem and exchanged greetings with the other High Priests before Atem announced that he needed a final report from the high priests who just returned and told them they would meet in ten minutes in the throne room. "Lord Aknadin, may I have a word with you privately?" Shimon whispered to Aknadin as they made their way to the throne room.

Shimon and Aknadin fell behind by a few paces to talk while the rest of the High Priests walked on. "What is it Lord Shimon?" Aknadin asked curiously. "It's the Pharaoh. He found out about the secret." Shimon whispered. "What? So soon? How?" Aknadin bombarded Shimon with questions. "Pharaoh Aknamkanon's diary, he found it at the shrine." Shimon replied softly. Aknadin eyes softened its gaze, "I see… I'm glad. How did he take it?" Aknadin asked Shimon.

"He was shocked at first but I guess he took it quite well. Are you going to let Seto know too?" Shimon questioned Aknadin in return. "I guess I have to, after all these years I can finally reclaim my son as my own." Aknadin sighed in relief. "I'll talk to the Pharaoh privately after the meeting to answer all his questions." Aknadin said finally before hastening his pace to catch up with the others.

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{In the throne room}

Everyone took their places and waited for Pharaoh Atem to arrive patiently. They did not have to wait long and soon the doors opened and Atem walked in. He made his way to his own place at the throne and signalled to Seto to give his report.

Seto stepped forward and informed everyone present of the conditions of the surrender. After telling everyone the different conditions he set for the Hittites, he reached the last point, "…. Finally, I demanded that they offer us a tribute of 10% of their annual revenue every year as ordered Pharaoh." With that, Seto concluded his report.

"Well done everyone! With everyone's hard work we managed to avoid a disaster and finally we quelled the threat from the neighbouring Hittites. Also, I would like to give Seto a special mention for taking over effectively when I got injured. Well done Seto!" Atem praised. "Thank you Pharaoh, my life is forever in your service." Seto bowed and returned to his position. Atem nodded and got up and left the room to get on with his schedule for the day.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

"Seto…" Aknadin whispered to Seto to gain his attention. "Yes?" Seto asked. "Can I talk to you for a while? It's quite important." Aknadin asked him. Aknadin didn't raise any objection when Shimon joined them which made Seto quite puzzled as to why the two eldest personnel of the council wanted to talk to him privately. "Is there something wrong?" Seto asked them.

Aknadin took a deep breath before asking Seto, "It's about your father…" He trailed off.

"My father died a long time ago, he died in battle." Seto told them. Aknadin glanced at Shimon who nodded back at him. "Umm, Lord Seto, that's not what happened…" Shimon started the explanation. "Huh? What do you mean?" Now Seto was confused, all these years his mother had told him that his father died in battle.

"Seto, a long time ago, I was married and I had a son." Aknadin explained. "I thought you said you were single." Seto tried to recall the day when he became a High Priest and was introduced to all the other High Priests. "Yes, I lied… A few years after I became High Priest, Pharaoh Aknamkanon sent me undercover to gather evidence against a highly dangerous gang. Because of that mission, I had to leave behind everything, my wife, my son… everything. I willingly took up the mission but I wouldn't want my wife to be burdened with our son's questions about where his father was. So I told my wife to tell our son that his father was a soldier and that he was killed on the battlefield." Aknadin explained with tears welling in his eyes.

Seto was dumbfounded, he fell backwards a few steps. He was not a fool, he could tell what Shimon and Aknadin were trying to tell him. "Y-y-you mean to say that all this time, you knew? You knew I was your son? Is that what you are trying to tell me?" Seto asked. "Yes, you are my son Seto. I hope you will forgive me for abandoning you and your mother all those years ago. I'm sorry." Aknadin bowed, asking for Seto's forgiveness.

"What's changed? Why did you wait until now to tell me this? Even after you came back safely why didn't you come back to us? WHY! Why didn't you say anything?" Seto questioned. Shimon and Aknadin hesitated. A voice rang out, "it's because I found out something too." It was the Pharaoh. The three of them bowed to the approaching king. "What do you mean Pharaoh? Found out something?" Seto asked.

Atem looked at Shimon and Aknadin who did not say a word and decided to tell the second part of the secret to Seto himself. "I'm your cousin Seto. Your father, Aknadin, was my father's twin brother. I found that out a few days ago. They decided a long time ago that they would tell you the truth only when I found out for myself the truth of my own family. Seto fell back a few more steps in shock. He couldn't breathe properly and his mind drew a blank. Without saying a word, he bowed to show respect to his king and left the room.

"I guess after all these years, it would be a huge shock to him." Shimon patted Aknadin on the shoulder. "Give him some time, Seto will get round it. It's late let's all go get some rest." He encouraged. "After four years since my father died, I find out that I still have family supporting me, it's comforting." Atem told Aknadin. With that, the three of them left the room as well.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

Seto went back to his chambers and changed out of his clothes, he took off all the accessories and placed his millennium rod in its holder. He was physically and mentally exhausted. He took half a day to coordinate moving the troops back from Kadesh to the city and when he returned, he had to give his report to the Pharaoh of the victory. Then, he had a bombshell dropped on him when it was revealed that his father didn't die in battle but that Aknadin was his father all along and to top it all off, he was the Pharaoh's cousin.

He wasn't angry at Aknadin. Like him, Aknadin had sworn loyalty and his life to the Pharaoh, so he understood why Aknadin did it. Seto decided that he was more shocked then angry, that's why he walked away.

"I guess I will need to have a talk with them tomorrow. It has been a long day." Seto told himself. With that, he drifted off to sleep.

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><p><strong>Please review! Thanks ^^<strong>


	24. Chapter 24

**Hi everyone! Thanks for the reviews! Sorry I am a little late this week, I have been rather busy hehe...**

**I own nothing!**

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><p><strong>The Pharaoh's Memories (Chapter 24: The announcement)<strong>

"speech"

'thoughts'

*sound effects*

{locations}

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><p>Previously:<p>

"I guess I will need to have a talk with them tomorrow. It has been a long day." Seto told himself. With that, he drifted off to sleep.

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><p>{The next morning}<p>

"Good morning Lord Aknadin" Seto greeted awkwardly as Aknadin walked past just as Seto came out of his chambers. "Good morning Seto" Aknadin replied somewhat despondently. They walked together to get breakfast, "Seto… I'm…" Aknadin trailed off, unsure whether Seto was angry at him hence the silent treatment.. Although he was not angry at the older man, Seto just didn't really know how to start off a conversation between themselves as well. In the end, both of them just walked in silence towards the dining room for breakfast.

The High priests would usually have breakfast together in the mornings with Pharaoh Atem joining them occasionally. It was a good chance for them to share with each other about the happenings in the empire in an informal setting and at the same time, they would be able to help each other think of ideas if needed. "Has Seto said anything yet?" Shimon, who was sitting beside Aknadin at the table whispered to him. "Not yet. We met outside his room and walked here together but we didn't say anything." Aknadin whispered back. "Ahh, I swear! You two can be so stubborn! You should go talk to him!" Shimon whisper-yelled at Aknadin. Aknadin didn't offer a rebuttal but just a soft chuckle. After breakfast, Isis announced, "Everyone, the Pharaoh requests for our presence in the throne room at 10.30am." Everyone just nodded.

"Wonder what will that be about? There was nothing arranged for today previously." Mahado asked Isis. "I was surprised as well. Yugi passed me the message this morning as I was leaving my chambers."

"Ohh…" Mahado replied. There were some speculation of what will the meeting be about but Shimon had a strong feeling it would be about the revelation of his relationship with Seto or something along those lines, so did Seto.

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{10.25am, throne room}

The High Priests of the Pharaoh all gathered in the throne room slightly earlier to await the arrival of their ruler. They were murmuring among themselves but fell silent when the doors opened and Atem walked in. As per normal, he walked towards his seat but not before smiling at Seto, it wasn't his usual smirk but a truly happy smile.

"I'm sure some of you are wondering what is so important that I had to convene this meeting today. At the same time, I'm also sure that some of you already can guess what I am going to announce today." Atem addressed his High Priests, "But we have to wait for some more people before I give my announcement." Just as he said his sentence finish, Aunt Femi and the other two elders stepped into the room. "Forgive me, I forgot to ask Yugi to inform you about this meeting earlier." Atem rubbed his neck. "It's alright Pharaoh. You are a busy man." The elders replied. 'Why does that sound so familiar?' Atem thought to himself but snapped out of his thoughts when he realised everyone were staring at him expectantly. Clearing his throat, Atem started, "My recent injury has made me realise something important. Therefore, before this court today I shall name my heir."

Femi's jaw seemed to hit the ground when she heard Atem's announcement. "He found out?" She asked Aknadin quietly. He just nodded. "I see…" Femi said in understanding. She cleared her throat, "Your heir Pharaoh?" She asked Atem. "I want to name Seto my heir." That had set off some murmuring among everyone present. "Me? Your heir?" Seto asked. "Yes! When I visited my Father's shrine, I noticed his diary and I found out that Seto and I are cousins, therefore, until I have my own child, Seto will be my heir." Atem announced.

"Aunt Femi, do you remember Pheonicia?" Atem asked his aunt. "Yes Pharaoh" Femi said, still trying to digest his earlier announcement. "Can you invite her to the palace again? Just her, not any others. Ask her if she can stay for 3 months." Atem requested. "As you wish Pharaoh" Femi smiled, it was the first time Atem had taken the initiative to be with any girl. "This meeting has concluded." Atem declared as he stood up and left the room.

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{In the library}

Yugi was helping Atem organise some of his documents as the latter was going through and signing them. As Seto approached Atem who was hard at work, Yugi bowed to the High Priest who in turn bowed to the working Pharaoh, "My Pharaoh… Why did you name me as your heir?" Seto asked. "Why you ask…" Atem mused as he turned to face Seto.

"Well, you are the next closest related person to me at the moment so isn't it right that you should be the next in line to the throne?" Atem questioned. "What about my Father?" Seto asked in return. "He doesn't want anyone to know that he was the Pharaoh Aknamkanon's brother so he requested that I do not reveal it to anyone and I obliged." Atem explained. "What if people question my bloodline, how are we going to explain it without revealing my relationship to Lord Aknadin?" Seto questioned. "My cousin… Those are just details, if anyone asks, I'll handle it. Anyway, if it makes you uncomfortable, you can take relieve from the knowledge that it won't be forever. Only until I have my own child." Atem shrugged. "But still I would rather continue my role as just your High Priest haha!" Seto laughed. "But Seto…" Atem tone turned deadly serious, "You talked to Aknadin yet?" "Yesterday night I thought that I should have a good talk with him today but when I met him in the morning, I didn't know how to start the conversation." Seto sighed. "Well I shall give you some advice as your cousin, find a way to talk… Ask him to tell you what happened in detail then maybe you two can start moving on." Atem advised.

Yugi stood at the side watching the conversation between the Pharaoh and his faithful High Priest/cousin. Yugi was happy for Atem, after his father died, it seemed that he was all alone as the rest of his family members had already passed on. Now that Atem found another family member, it was like a happy family reunion and if Pharaoh was happy, Yugi was happy as well. On the other hand, he thought of his own family members, his mother and especially his grandfather who had watched him grow up.

'How worried they must have been when I suddenly disappeared four years ago.' Yugi thought sadly as tears welled up in his eyes. In a flash, he had grown from a normal 21 year old kid attending university to a 25 year old high ranking Ancient Egyptian servant of the Pharaoh. He wasn't sure if his mother and grandfather would recognise him if they saw him now, he had grown taller as compared to four years ago and he was really tan. On top of that, he wasn't the scrawny boy anymore. "Oka-san, jii-chan, I'm so sorry…" Yugi cried softly, apologising to his mother and grandfather for causing them so much worry, he hoped that they would be able to feel his apology and love even though they are so far apart.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

"Yugi? You okay?" Atem asked in concern. "Yes Pharaoh, I'm fine." Yugi forced a smile. "Don't lie to me, your eyes clearly gave you away, they are red in case you don't know." Atem stopped walking to talk to Yugi. "Ummm… its nothing." Yugi tried to brush off the sudden attention given, he is feeling quite unnerved by Atem's strong unwavering stare. "Oh no mister, we're not moving on until you tell me what's wrong. Something has caused you to be upset." Atem scolded lightly. "I command you as your king to tell me what's wrong." Usually Atem would not pull rank but recently Yugi has been uncharacteristically quiet.

"It's nothing really, I just thought about my home back in Japan." Yugi answered softly. Atem did not really know what to say to comfort him. "Sigh… I'm sorry… Let's go" Atem sighed, if he knew how to make contact with Yugi's, Jono's and Hond's family at least he would give anything to make it happen. Those three had to leave behind everything when they unexpectedly ended up in Egypt.

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><p><strong>Please Review!<strong>


	25. Chapter 25

**I've had an inspiration recently hehe... That would take care of the writer block for a while!**

**I own nothing!**

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><p><strong>The Pharaoh's Memories (Chapter 25: What was Aknadin's story (Part 1)?)<strong>

"speech"

'thoughts'

*sound effects*

{locations}

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><p>Previously:<p>

"It's nothing really, I just thought about my home back in Japan." Yugi answered softly. Atem did not really know what to say to comfort him. "Sigh… I'm sorry… Let's go" Atem sighed, if he knew how to make contact with Yugi's, Jono's and Hond's family at least he would give anything to make it happen. Those three had to leave behind everything when they unexpectedly ended up in Egypt.

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><p>Yugi was kept busy for the next few hours putting away and organising Atem's newly washed clothes and things. This gave Atem the chance to go find Mahado, if anyone could find a way to make contact with Yugi's family, it would be Mahado. The Pharaoh found his childhood friend tutoring Mana at the magic training ground, Mana was failing spectacularly at using her magic to "levitate" a bowl of water while answering questions on a piece of paper.<p>

When Mana was trying really hard to concentrate to hold up the bowl of water and answer her questions at the same time, she lost her focus when Atem called out to both of them causing Mana to drop the bowl of water all over Mahado's head. Atem fell over laughing because he was laughing so hard, he was having a little trouble breathing. "Why you Mana…" Mahado started dangerously with a slight murderous aura emitting from his body. "KYAH! Help me Prince!" Mana shouted before ducking behind Atem who was still trying to catch his breathe.

"Sigh…" Mahado sighed at the childish behaviour of his apprentice. "Pharaoh…" Mahado bowed respectfully. "Oh Mahado, you're like an older brother to me, besides there's no one else here, spare me the formalities please!" Atem whined and Mana giggled. "But no matter what, you are still the Pharaoh, no?" Mahado countered. Atem raised his eyebrows but stayed silent.

"Do you need something Pharaoh?" Mahado asked. "Yes," Atem answered, "I need you to help me find a way to contact Yugi's family." "Hmm, I'll have to do some research. The last time we concluded that they came from a parallel universe, I'll try my best to see if a connection between the two universes can be made." Mahado mused. "I'll leave it up to you then. Thanks!" Atem smiled.

Atem stayed with Mahado and Mana for a while longer, mostly watching Mana practice her magic and getting told off by Mahado for slacking off. After Mana's incessant pleading, Atem relented and did try some magic. Turns out that Atem was a natural at magic, he got the hang of it after a few tries. "Aww that's unfair prince!" Mana whined as Atem won her in a contest to see who can hold the bowl of water up the longest. "Mana, you must put in more hard work, no more slacking off! See here, even the Pharaoh could beat you in holding the bowl of water up." Mahado chided as he looked up from the scroll he was reading as part of his research to find out more about communicating with Yugi's family. Atem sweat dropped, sometimes he wonder whether Mahado has extra eyes on his head that he can keep watch of so many things at once.

After about an hour and a half, Atem decided that it was time for him to get back to work. "I'll visit you again Mana. If Mahado tells me that you have improved a lot the next time I come here, I promise to get you a huge surprise." Atem told the brown haired girl. "Serious?" Mana asked, her eyes sparkling with excitement. "Yes I'm serious!" Atem insisted. "OKAY! You better get the surprise ready soon because I'm going to practice so hard to get the surprise!" Mana gushed out happily as she ran off to practice.

As Mahado watched Mana run off, he smiled and turned to the Pharaoh, "Even though both of you are almost the same age, you are so much more matured, Pharaoh. Had I known it was that easy to get her to be more serious, I would have asked for your help a long time ago." Mahado chuckled and Atem too let out a laugh. "If it wasn't for my Father's premature death, you'd probably be babysitting two children instead of one now. Hope to hear good news from you soon Mahado." Atem said as he left the magic training grounds.

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{Back in his bedroom}

"You're back Pharaoh!" Yugi greeted the king as he came through the doors. "Yes, I went to see Mahado." Atem smirked as he settled at his desk to finish up whatever was left to be done that day.

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{Meanwhile, Seto was looking for his dad}

Seto found Aknadin alone in the temple staring into blank space. "Lord Aknadin, am I disturbing you?" Seto asked drawing the attention of the older man. "Seto… No no, please join me." Aknadin said, surprised to see Seto. Seto smiled slightly and took a seat beside Aknadin.

"Seto… Allow me to explain what happened all those years ago." Aknadin drew his courage to come clean with his son. Seto didn't reply but just nodded his head, prompting Aknadin to continue.

{Story mode}

A long time ago, when you were around 3 years old, there was a notorious and highly dangerous gang. The gang was made up of solely peasants who were very angry with the noble class, mainly because they were jealous of how the nobles' lives were so much more comfortable as compared to their. To get their revenge, they decided to go around murdering prominent nobles. At first, it was quite easy to catch the culprits, but due to the prominence of the nobles they killed, word spread around the city quickly and their reputation grew. Before we knew it, the gang had become a very large group with a very powerful leader, 6 main members and around 150 supporters. They called themselves the 'Sword Society'.

The murders eventually became meticulously planned out, with no trace left for us to track down the hideout of the gang. The nobles in the city lived in fear, many families increased the number of guards to guard their house and they did not dare to leave the confines of their house. Pharaoh Aknamkanon was worried that this eventually would bring down Egypt's economy. Also he was determined not to let these criminals get away scot free after all the murders they committed. In response, Pharaoh Aknamkanon secretly assembled a task force to infiltrate the ranks of the gang to shut them down from the inside – An undercover mission and I volunteered to lead the force. To keep the task force safe, the members of the task force had to leave everything behind to create a mask of poverty so that we would be accepted into the gang without much question.

That's when I had to leave you and your mother behind. When you started to ask questions about your father, I told her simply to tell you that your father was a soldier and he died on the battlefield. I spent a few months wandering the streets with my partners and after a year and a half, we finally gained entry to the elusive gang. We spent the next 8 years trying to climb their ranks, to try to find out who the leader was in order to shut down the gang for good. They had never let the 'foot soldiers' come into contact with the leader and the 6 main members. As we tried to climb their ranks, we also sabotaged many of their missions by warning the guards of the targets in advance. There were many close calls for us, the team leaders tortured and executed anyone suspected of betraying the gang in front of all the other members.

There wasn't a day where we felt safe, we were afraid of getting caught as they might find out all the identities of the members of the task force and kill us all. Also, not a day passes by where I wouldn't think of you and your mother. In my heart, I shared and laughed with your mother and together, the both of us watched you grow up. Seto… in my heart, I have never left the both of you for a single moment.

In the end, another guy and I were promoted to team leaders and we came into contact with the 6 main members. After a while, there was a huge operation to assassinate the highest ranking noble in the land, the Pharaoh whom they felt that his death would bring widespread panic in the whole land. At that point, because it was a huge operation, the leader showed his face. There were different designated places for all the different groups of 'foot soldiers' to assemble for the operation.

On the day of attack, Pharaoh Aknamkanon was moved to a secret location in the city. The task force led the guards and police to all the rendezvous points at the exact timing. We captured most of the criminals and soon after that the Pharaoh passed the death sentences for the 130 people that were captured. Among them were the elusive leader and main members. The police continued to search for the criminals that escaped but until today they haven't surfaced.

{End of story mode}

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><p><strong>Please review!<strong>


	26. Chapter 26

**Whoa it has been almost half a month since I last posted a chapter. =O Sorry it took longer this time.**

**I own nothing!**

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><p><strong>The Pharaoh's Memories (Chapter 26: What was Aknadin's story (Part 2)?)<strong>

"speech"

'thoughts'

*sound effects*

{locations}

#Text#

;;;;;;;; time shift ;;;;;;;;;

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><p>Previously:<p>

On the day of attack, Pharaoh Aknamkanon was moved to a secret location in the city. The task force led the guards and police to all the rendezvous points at the exact timing. We captured most of the criminals and soon after that the Pharaoh passed the death sentences for the 130 people that were captured. Among them were the elusive leader and main members. The police continued to search for the criminals that escaped but until today they haven't surfaced.

{End of story mode}

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><p>Seto fell back a few steps and used the wall as a support as he listened to Aknadin's story in disbelief. He had heard about the Sword Society when he was growing up, he knew that they were highly dangerous criminals but he did not know they committed crimes at such a large scale. 'I would have done the same if I was in Lord Aknadin's shoes. That is the duty of the Pharaoh's servant.' Seto thought to himself. "But when you returned, why didn't you come and look for us." Seto asked. "I truly wanted to but when I got back I needed to undergo counselling because during my time undercover, I changed slightly. I became more bad tempered and had more violent tendencies. In the end, I felt that I would be a danger if I was near you therefore I distanced myself from the both of you." Aknadin explained, wiping the tears off his face.<p>

He then continued, "By the time I recovered, your mother had died and you moved away. I tried to locate you but I failed, I could not find you anywhere. My brother, Pharaoh Aknamkanon, also tried to help me locate you, he was very fond of you when you were little and helped your mother take care the finances of the house. He told me that the guards could not find you as well."

Seto was looking at the floor, he too was crying slightly. "After mother died, I decided to move to another city. I didn't tell anyone, I started training and studying while I was there. I decided that the best opportunity I could have was to become a High Priest of the Pharaoh. People who are appointed as High Priests were usually from influential families. At that time, I didn't think my family was influential enough so I decided to study and train hard to shine among the rest of the priests so that I would be selected based on that." Seto explained. Aknadin smiled proudly, it was true that under those circumstances, he had grown up so much that there might be a chance that Pharaoh Aknamkanon may not recognise who he was, therefore it would have been hard for Seto to become a High Priest but he prevailed at the end.

"When you were first introduced to the rest of the High Priests, I immediately recognised you. However, when you said that your mother had died of an incurable illness and your father died on the battlefield, I decided to hold myself back. Perhaps at that time I was afraid that you would have hated me all this time. I'm so so sorry. Please forgive me." Aknadin admitted.

"I will not forgive you…" Seto started, when Aknadin heard that phrase, he lowered his eyes dejectedly. "I will not forgive you because…," Seto continued, "You don't need my forgiveness at all. As I said before, I would have done the same thing if I were you therefore I have never blamed you and I have not hated you!" Seto cried as he went up to embrace Aknadin. "My son… I'm so proud of you, thank you for surviving all this while. Thank you for coming back to me." Aknadin hugged Seto tightly. "But…" Aknadin hesitated as they let go of each other.

"What is it?" Seto asked. "I can't acknowledge you as my son in public without revealing my relationship with the previous Pharaoh. If I do, it would put the royal family in bad light." Aknadin said regretfully.

"That's what I was pondering about too, Father. Don't worry, you must have forgotten that I'm a servant of the Pharaoh as well. I understand… It doesn't matter if no one else knows about it, as long as the people I care about knows about it, I'm fine with keeping it a secret." Seto smiled as he wiped away his tears. Aknadin smiled back and held his son tightly once more.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

{At the dining hall}

It was one of those times that Pharaoh Atem decided to join his High Priests for dinner. Atem sat at the head of the table. He smirked when he noticed that both Aknadin and Seto came into the room in such a good mood. Seto took his seat at the first seat on the right side of the table nearest the Pharaoh and Shimon sat opposite Seto on the left side of the table. As the heir and Grand Vizier to the Pharaoh, they held the highest ranks among everyone in the room therefore they sat closest to the Pharaoh at the table. The rest of the High Priests just sat at whichever seat was available. Aknadin grabbed a seat beside Shimon. Shimon and Atem leaned over to Aknadin and Seto respectively. "You both thrashed it out?" Both of them asked. "Yeah…" Both Seto and Aknadin answered. "Cool!" Atem said and gave Seto a pat on the back.

They chatted about state affairs throughout dinner. Just then, the double doors to the dining hall opened and a guard walked in. He bowed to the people in the room and walked over to pass a scroll to Aknadin before bowing and left the room. "Shimon, what is it?" Atem asked. Shimon eyes widened considerably and he rolled up the scroll and set it down on the table. His breathing also became more irregular, clearly he didn't hear the Pharaoh's question. "Lord Shimon?" Aknadin called tapping him on his shoulder to gain his attention. When he snapped out of his shock, he noticed everyone at the table staring at him. "Shimon, you okay?" Atem asked concerned about his reaction to the scroll. "Yes Pharaoh, forgive me." Shimon replied and passed Atem the scroll to read.

The king unrolled the scroll and read the contents. "What has happened Pharaoh?" Seto asked in concern. "The senior official of the treasury and the senior official from the ministry of works had been murdered, their bodies mutilated and hung upside down from the roofs of their houses. "Oh my, that's terrible!" Isis exclaimed covering her mouth with her hands. "Has the culprit been caught yet Pharaoh?" Mahado asked.

"The investigators have some theories but it hasn't been confirmed yet." Atem replied. Aknadin had become incredibly quiet after Atem described the murder.

Aknadin had found the method of killing so similar to the criminal gang that he had helped shut down so many years ago. The way that victims were killed, first slashing the throat then stripping and disembowelling the body. Then mutilating the body with cuts and slashes all over before tying them by the legs and hanging the body upside down at the front door of the house. He had witnessed this many times when he was undercover, even though his team had tried their best to forewarn the guards and the targets discreetly, sometimes the guards were too slow and the criminals managed to carry out their planned attacks. 'If the sword society has revived, to be able to carry out the attacks such that the smallest detail is exactly the same. The only explanation is that the leader should be one of those who got away all those years ago. If that is true, the city will be thrown into turmoil again.' Aknadin furrowed his brow, deep in thought.

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{After dinner}

Atem dismissed everyone except for Shimon and Seto to get on with their work or errands that evening. As everyone got up to leave, Aknadin who was still deep in thought, did not hear the Pharaoh's command and continued sitting there. "Lord Aknadin?" Shimon tapped his shoulder to gain his attention. Snapping out of his 'trance', Aknadin turned and asked, "Yes?"

"Everyone else have left…" Shimon told. "Oh, forgive me, my mind was elsewhere." Aknadin apologised and got up to leave. "No wait Aknadin." Atem called out, "you looked as if you know something important when I told everyone about the murder. Do you know something about it?" Atem asked. "Pharaoh… I cannot say for sure that I know something about it, will you allow me to investigate it? I will report back to you when I have confirmed my doubts." Aknadin told the Pharaoh.

"Is it about your previous undercover work, Father?" Seto whispered. Atem raised his eyebrows and Shimon's eyes widened. "That's right! The method that was used to kill the nobles, it sounds similar to the way the Sword Society killed all those years ago." Shimon exclaimed.

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><p><strong>Please review!<strong>


	27. Chapter 27

**Hi! I am still here! I've just rewatched the anime to gain some ideas on how to regain more of Atem's memories. XD**

**I own nothing! **

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><p><strong>The Pharaoh's Memories (Chapter 27: Trouble has besieged Egypt)<strong>

"speech"

'thoughts'

*sound effects*

{locations}

#Text#

;;;;;;;; time shift ;;;;;;;;;

* * *

><p>Previously:<p>

"Is it about your previous undercover work, Father?" Seto whispered. Atem raised his eyebrows and Shimon's eyes widened. "That's right! The method that was used to kill the nobles, it sounds similar to the way the Sword Society killed all those years ago." Shimon exclaimed.

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><p>"I can't say for sure. However, if the gang has been revived, there would some signs and signals. Pharaoh, please let me go out to investigate." Aknadin implored. "Very well, be careful Aknadin." Atem sighed with worry."<p>

"There's always something new every day. Sometimes, it's so tiring." Atem smiled warily, "oh well, I had wanted to discuss this with both of you, but since we have to wait for Aknadin to find out more, I guess there's nothing to discuss at the moment." Atem told them as he got up to leave.

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{Deep in the night}

Aknadin creeped up behind the bushes, his vantage point overlooked the peasant village, El-Amarna. Majority of the former members of the Sword Society was from El-Amarna even its leaders. Aknadin spent the evening looking for clues and asking around, he was told that if the Sword Society indeed revived, there would be activity on the bridge of El-Amarna. He didn't have to wait long before he saw people wearing headbands walking on the bridge. At this time of night, normal people would be asleep by now, having people walking around is indeed very suspicious.

Quietly, Aknadin left his vantage point to return to the palace, tomorrow he would report what he had seen to the Pharaoh. Deep within his being, he wished that it wasn't true, that the Sword Society hasn't revived yet. However, there was only so much one man can do, therefore Aknadin decided not to infiltrate their base yet until more intelligence is collected.

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{The next morning in the throne room}

Atem had to sit through trial after trial, petition after petition from the people of his nation. After all, it was his duty as Pharaoh of the land.

As the last appeal was resolved, Aknadin stepped out of his line to give his report. "Pharaoh, when I went to gather information from my undercover colleagues and informants, I found out that if there was activity on the bridge of the village, El-Armana, something suspicious was happening inside. As I watched the village, I noticed men wearing headbands walking on the bridge in the dead of night. Something is going on in that village Pharaoh, we need men to continue keeping it under surveillance." Aknadin beseeched the king. Atem rested his chin on his thumb as he listened to Aknadin's report. "I see, I will grant you the use of the royal guards for this mission and I'm placing you in charge of this case, Aknadin." Atem ordered. "I will not betray the trust you have put in me, my Pharaoh." Aknadin responded, bowing as he left to plan the details and objectives of the mission.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

Aknadin decided to have guards on duty round the clock to keep watch of the happenings in the village. His plan was to place three guards on the vantage point that overlooked the village and to have pairs of guards undercover inside the village to get clues for about any attacks being planned or even the location of the new hideout if the Sword Society has really revived.

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{Three days later}

"Another official was brutally murdered!" Atem shouted as he slammed his fists on his throne. "Every single person from the noble class refuse step out of their house for fear of their lives and yet we are nowhere closer to catching the culprit. It has been 1 month since the first murder. It's affecting the economy!" Atem was clearly angry and everyone in the court fell silent. "Aknadin, your report." Atem said, trying not to shout. "Yes sire," Aknadin stepped out.

"The guards doing surveillance have been sent to raid El-Amarna village, yet they came up short. There was nothing suspicious to be found." Aknadin reported. Taking a few deep breathes to calm himself, Atem then spoke, "Continue watching El-Amarna, it may be part of their plans to have us raid the village first before they shift back in as we will not check a village that has already been raided. Men walking around in the dead of night for no reason is highly suspicious." Atem reasoned. "Yes Pharaoh… On top of that I will start watching some of the nearby villages as well." Aknadin suggested. "Yeah you do that." Atem said rubbing his temple, the angry made his blood rush up to his head, resulting in a headache. "If you will excuse me, I don't feel too well." Atem told the court before leaving with Yugi.

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{Along one of the many hallways of the palace}

"You okay Pharaoh? Shall I send for the healer?" Yugi asked as Atem was still rubbing his temple. "I don't feel like going back to my room yet Yugi. Let's go for a walk." Atem told his servant. "Yes Pharaoh" Yugi answered. "Yeah, I'll be alright, I don't know why but the palace feels so stuffy today, there's no need for the healer." Atem complained, hoping Yugi would offer him some advice. "Well, let's go to the gardens first, sometimes immersing yourself into nature may help relieve some stress." Yugi suggested. "Let's hope you're right." Atem forced a smile and walked to the right hallway that would lead them to the gardens.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

{In the gardens}

Stepping out of the building and into the gardens, Atem took in a deep breath of fresh air. The night air was cooling and felt very refreshing. The slight breeze made all the trees in the garden sway about that looked as if they were dancing. It was a beautiful sight, very relaxing and at the same time very comforting. Atem took a seat at the table in the centre of the garden and asked Yugi to take a seat as well, to which he obliged. "You're right, when I stepped in here, it felt as if the huge weight on my shoulders was lifted off. It feels so good." Atem sighed in content. Yugi smiled, being Pharaoh meant that Atem not only had to take care of himself, but every single one of his subjects living in the land of Egypt was his responsibility. Though his Father didn't really teach Atem much about what it takes to be a Pharaoh, he has done very well in its management all these years.

The two of them just sat there in silence, both of them glad of the other's company. Yugi had been in Atem's service all these years, the two of them had become best friends just like how it was in Yugi's world. Yugi thought back to his time in Domino City, a developed city, with skyscrapers and buildings everywhere, there were a few parks but there wasn't one as beautiful and huge like this garden. Though it was funny that there can be such a beautiful garden with so many plants and trees thriving in this hot country. Yugi sighed longingly, although he wished that he could just go back to his world, he felt that he would miss this place greatly. Perhaps he just want to properly say goodbye to his loved ones since he had grown to love Egypt after he has been here for so long.

Yugi turned around only to find that Atem had fallen asleep. He was lying on his arms on the table, Yugi smiled as he took in the sight before him. Atem had looked stressed out just now but now he was sleeping so peacefully. Yugi called for a guard to help carry the Pharaoh back to his chambers. Just in case, Yugi called for the healer to come to check on Atem since he seemed uncomfortable before, despite Atem's assurance that he was alright. "Is he okay?" Yugi asked the healer. "It's just overworking, resulting in not enough sleep. i'll check on the Pharaoh again in the morning just to be sure." The healer told Yugi before leaving to prepare some medicine for the Pharaoh.

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><p><strong>Please review!<strong>


	28. Chapter 28

**I own nothing!**

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><p><strong>The Pharaoh's Memories (Chapter 28: The Sword Society has revived)<strong>

"speech"

"_Japanese speech__"_

'thoughts'

*sound effects*

{locations}

#Text#

;;;;;;;; time shift ;;;;;;;;;

* * *

><p>Previously:<p>

"Is he okay?" Yugi asked the healer. "It's just overworking, resulting in not enough sleep." The healer told Yugi before leaving to prepare some medicine for the Pharaoh.

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><p>{The next morning}<p>

"Lord Aknadin…" Yugi acknowledged, carrying the tray of the Pharaoh's breakfast. "Could you tell the Pharaoh that I need to see him urgently?" Aknadin asked. "Sure, just a moment sir." Yugi replied before entering the room. Atem had just awaken, "Good morning Pharaoh! Lord Aknadin is outside, he need to see you urgently." Yugi told the yawning king. "Let him in." Atem instructed, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

"Pharaoh, we found some leads on the murder case." Aknadin told Atem in a serious tone. "Unfortunately, it seems that all evidence point to the Sword Society. The men on watch reported that they saw a team leader placing the signal to which all the members of the Sword Society gathered in a secret location in the desert. In the past, the signal was a headband with the symbol of the Sword Society on it, it was to be placed on a pile of rocks in front of the bridge. It symbolised the mobilisation of all the men in the organisation for a meeting with the leader." Aknadin reported.

"What do you propose we do then? I suppose you already have a plan in mind Aknadin." Atem questioned. "It's just a hunch but I feel that they would most probably move tonight. I suggest that all the key officials stay overnight in a secured compound in the palace. We don't know who the target is but it could be any noble or official in the land. In order to maintain some sort of order in the land, at the very least, these officials must be kept safe to prevent a total meltdown among the nobility class. We will also secretly send out the army and guards to quietly patrol the streets from the rooftops and alleys to keep watch of the safety of the nobles." Aknadin gave his suggestion.

"Hmmm…" Atem cradled his chin using his hand as he completed to feasibility of Aknadin's suggestion. There are quite a number of nobles living in the capital so there was no doubt that they needed a huge force to keep watch. However, the sheer number of men meant that they would be easier to spot and the murder organisation may go deep into hiding which would make it even harder to bring them to justice. After a few minutes, Atem sighed, "Alright then, I accept your proposal, I will give you command over 2000 men. Make sure they keep watch in secret, they can't be spotted and only can move into action when they are absolutely sure that the guys are part of the Sword Society." Atem told Aknadin. "Thank you Pharaoh!" Aknadin bowed as he left the room to head for breakfast.

"Ugh…" Atem groaned as he plopped back down on the bed. "I believe Lord Aknadin has it under control, Pharaoh." Yugi tried to cheer him up. "I guess so." Atem yawned tiredly. He has not been sleeping well ever since the murders started. "Where are you going for your off day?" Atem asked curiously. "Mmm, the three of us have been talking about going for a day out near the Nile. There is a body of water near it that has clear water without crocodiles in it. Maybe we will go there for some fun today." Yugi told Atem. "Sounds fun! I wish I could go too, but I would probably endure a long lecture afterwards about leaving work behind to have fun. Another time perhaps, remember to have lots of fun!" Atem replied, finally getting out of bed to get dressed.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

After getting Atem prepared for the day, Yugi left to meet Jounouchi and Honda who were already waiting at the entrance of the palace. "Let's go!" Jono said excitedly as they started to walk in the intended direction towards their destination.

The three of them would only have the same off day if the Pharaoh decided that he was not going out that day. Today, the Pharaoh was going to be bogged down by his mountain of paperwork yet again that he allowed the three of them to head out for some fun together. They reached the picturesque location, a huge body of water surrounded by green trees and bushes swaying in the wind. The place was clean and it made one feel so close to nature. Jono, Hond and Yugi took off their outer clothing and shoes and rushed into the water, playing and splashing around like young children.

After two hours in the water, they sat down by the bank playing card games and chatting. Unbeknownst to them, there was a group of people watching them from the shadows casted by the trees. "Huh?" Hond looked up, thinking that he saw moving move. "What is it?" Jono asked. "Oh nothing, I thought I saw something behind the bush over there." Hond shrugged it off thinking it may be a tree lizard.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

The group of people became bigger as the time passed. The men were wearing black headbands and were armed with swords, they made way for a guy wearing a blue band as he approached the front to get a clearer look. "You sure it's him?" The guy with the blue headband asked the guy beside him. "Yes sir. We have a positive ID from a few of the guys who had seen the Pharaoh before and those two with him are his personal guards." The guy whispered back. Mr blue headband smirked, "Good… Make sure your men don't make any mistakes, I want him captured alive." He instructed quietly before turning around to head back towards the mountainous area of the desert.

Again the men got back to their positions in the bushes to continue watching the three of them. The team leader of the group whispered to the rest, "We'll put our plan into action when they get up to leave. Make sure you be careful of the two guards, knock them out first while the others grab the Pharaoh. A few stay behind to make sure the guards don't follow us and blow the cover of our hideout." The guys nodded.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

"_What a nice picnic haha! We hardly had the time to do this in Domino city_." Jono said out loud in Japanese and he laid down to watch the sky. "_It's a nice weather today! Not too hot and a little breezy too. It's like the heavens knew we were coming out for some fun so it gave us perfect weather conditions._" Yugi joined in.

"_Well, we'll have to leave in two hours, let's go in one last time._" Hond suggested already jogging towards water. Yugi and Jono smiled at each other before running after their friend. After another hour, they got out to dry off themselves and to pack up their things to leave.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

"They are leaving... Move in now." The team leader commanded as all the men rushed in, catching the three of them by surprise allowing the men to knock out Honda and Jounouchi as planned. "Who are you? What are you doing? Honda-kun! Jounouchi-kun!" Yugi shouted before he was bounded, blindfolded and gagged. The men moved like clockwork, they were out of there in 5 minutes, bringing Yugi with them.

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><p><strong>AN: The society members had never really noticed the subtle differences between Yugi and Atem hence they could mistake Yugi for Atem :)**

**Please review =)**


	29. Chapter 29

**I own nothing!**

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><p><strong>The Pharaoh's Memories (Chapter 29: Where is Yugi?)<strong>

"speech"

"_Japanese speech__"_

'thoughts'

*sound effects*

{locations}

#Text#

;;;;;;;; time shift ;;;;;;;;;

* * *

><p>Previously:<p>

"Who are you? What are you doing? Honda-kun! Jounouchi-kun!" Yugi shouted before he was bounded, blindfolded and gagged. The men moved like clockwork, they were out of there in 5 minutes, bringing Yugi with them.

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><p>{At the mountain hideout}<p>

Yugi's gag and binds were removed. However soon after that Yugi felt his hands raised above his head and metal chains was replaced around his wrists. "Who are you?" Yugi demanded, feeling quite scared because he couldn't see anything and he was being tied up like that. "Our special guest, welcome, welcome." Yugi heard someone say followed by the footsteps of this said person coming closer. Suddenly, the blindfold was removed and Yugi took a while to let his eyes adjust to the sudden light. It looked like they were in a small cave as Yugi caught a glimpse of the man who removed the blindfold; a tall, tan and muscular man. His wrists were cuffed to metal chains that hung down from the ceiling of the cave. The last thing Yugi caught sight of was the table of tools nearby before his sight was robbed from him again as the man promptly blindfolded him again. The sudden realisation of what was happening hit Yugi like a ton of bricks, his heart started pounding furiously against his chest.

Suddenly, Yugi felt the sting of a whip on his back. The blows kept coming at him, some on his back others on his chest. "ARGH! Why are you doing this? Who are you?" Yugi asked, hoping to get some answers. "Hmph, don't worry Pharaoh, we won't kill you just yet and we will try not to hurt your pretty face." The man mocked before delivering another blow. "Y-You've m-made a mistake. I'm not the Pharaoh." Yugi struggled to say. "Your lies will make this experience all the more painful for yourself." The man spat before raining blow after blow onto Yugi's body. "AAhhh! Please… Argh!" Yugi screamed out, begging them for mercy. However, they ignored him and continued the torture. .

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{Back at the palace}

Atem was pacing up and down his room. 'Yugi's late, wonder what's keeping him, he should be back by this time.' He thought to himself. Just then, he spotted Jono and Hond turn down the corridor, both of them were bleeding from the head. "Jono, Hond, what in the world happened? Where's Yugi?" Atem asked them, worry lacing his tone. "Pharaoh, we were attacked at the oasis, Yugi was taken away, we were just going to grab some weapons to go after him." Jono replied softly, wiping the blood off his head. "What? Who? I mean who took him?" Atem questioned. "The last thing I saw was a guy wearing a black headband with a strange symbol on it." Hond informed Atem.

"Headband… headband… Ah! Go find Aknadin and tell him this, after that tell him to report to me." Atem mumbled to himself before sending the both of them in the opposite direction. They bowed and ran off to find Aknadin.

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{A long while of torture later that is too cruel to describe in this story}

Yugi collapsed in pain and exhaustion, only held up by the chains around his wrists, he did not have the strength to stand on his feet anymore. His wounds were bleeding badly, a small pool of blood was already starting to form at his feet. All of a sudden, the beating stopped and the room fell deathly silent. 'How long have I been here? Has it been 1 week already or a few hours? I'm not sure… Somebody, anybody please, please help me.' Yugi thought to himself. After a while, he started to feel the place spin and he blacked out.

The men had left the dark cave to have their dinner, taking their anger and feelings of injustice on the highest ranking noble in land for 5 hours has made them ravenous. They felt powerful since they thought that the Pharaoh, was suffering and begging for their mercy. The more Yugi denied he was Pharaoh made them even angrier, they felt that all nobles deserve death. "Hmph, he fainted…" One man snorted, holding Yugi's face up as he entered the inner cave. His companion smirked as he went outside to grab a bucket of cold water. Throwing the whole bucket of water with full force at the unconscious boy, Yugi choked as he regained consciousness. Shivering uncontrollably from the cold water, the men mocked him, "Feeling cold, your majesty?" Everyone roared with laughter.

"Here this will help you…" The first man said as he pressed a red hot poker onto Yugi's skin. PAIN, burning explosive pain, was what Yugi felt. He cried out and begged them to stop, struggling in his chains. If he wasn't chained to the ceiling, Yugi was sure that poker was able to make him run a marathon in record time. After mocking him for a bit, the men left the room. "Are you okay?" Yugi heard someone speak, a much gentler and compassionate voice. The blindfold was removed and in front of him was a small built man and he was carrying a bag of medical supplies. "Don't be afraid, I'm not here to hurt you. The men kidnapped me from the neighbouring village, they told me to take care of your wounds." The man explained. "Please don't, it will take me longer to die if you heal my injuries." Yugi begged, he wanted this to end soon. "They told me if you die, they would kill me as well. Please… I don't want to die." The man begged in reply. Mustering all his strength to lift his head to look at the man, Yugi saw that he was genuinely frightened as well. Dejectedly, Yugi nodded and allowed the man to dress his wounds.

;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;

"Send out every available men to search the whole land, I want every corner of the empire to be checked thoroughly!" A furious order echoed throughout the throne room. Aknadin confirmed the headband and the symbol was the trademark of the Sword Society. It meant that Yugi was in the hands of the Sword Society which could only mean trouble because he looked so similar to the Pharaoh.

The gates of the palace and various armies camps opened and out poured scores of armed men to start the search for the Sword Society and Yugi. Atem was in the command room looking over the maps with Seto, Aknadin and Shimon right beside him. As soon as a report came in of the search in an area coming up dry, they would mark it off the map. The rest of the High Priests were also out in the city asking around for witnesses.

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{The next day}

"It's already evening, one full day has passed since Yugi has been taken, still nothing?" Atem asked Shimon. "Seems that way Pharaoh, but Jono and Hond seems to have something to report, they are coming back now." Shimon replied softly hoping not to incur the wrath of the king. Jono and Hond stepped into the command room, bowing to show respect to their king. "I heard you found something." Atem asked them. "Yes Pharaoh, partial footprints near the site where we were attacked and where Yugi was taken away. The direction of the footprints were heading north." Hond informed them. "North…" Aknadin repeated, looking closely at the map.

"Reporting in…" A guard announced at the door. The doors opened and the guard walked in, "My Pharaoh, a report from Lord Shada and Lord Mahado." The guard told them. "What is it?" Atem asked urgently. "It seems that a young doctor was kidnapped from a northern village named El-Muda by a group of men wearing black headbands." The guard reported. "Alright, thank you." Seto told the guard as the guard bowed and left the room. "North… El-Muda…" Aknadin again repeated and circled out the places in question. His eyes widened, "Pharaoh!" Aknadin called.

Atem stepped beside him, "This area here is known for its hills. Also, I heard that there are quite a few stone caves in that area. It will be a perfect place to hide a person or a secret base." Aknadin told Atem, pointing to area in question. "Alright… Dispatch all the nearby guards there." Atem ordered.

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><p><strong>Okay! So Yugi got hurt.. At first I wrote it to be more brutal but I did not know how much 'brutality<strong>**' (Thanks for helping me find the word) was allowed in fanfic so I scaled it back a bit. If I need to change the rating, please drop me a comment =)**

**Please review!**


	30. Chapter 30

**Thanks for helping me out with the word I was stuck with, somehow I couldn't get the word, brutailty haha =D (I've already changed it).**

**As usual, I own nothing.**

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><p><strong>The Pharaoh's Memories (Chapter 30: Operation: Rescue Yugi!)<strong>

"speech"

"_Japanese speech__"_

'thoughts'

*sound effects*

{locations}

#Text#

;;;;;;;; time shift ;;;;;;;;;

* * *

><p>Previously:<p>

Atem stepped beside him, "This area here is known for its hills. Also, I heard that there are quite a few stone caves in that area. It will be a perfect place to hide a person or a secret base." Aknadin told Atem, pointing to area in question. "Alright… Dispatch all the nearby guards there." Atem ordered.

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><p>{At the mountain hideout; Day 2}<p>

Yugi was having a little trouble breathing, he was certain that they had already broken his shin bones and his shoulder was dislocated and it hurt like hell. He had lost count the number of times he had lost consciousness from the extreme pain and how many times they splashed buckets of water onto his face to wake him up. There was a commotion going on outside, he could hardly hear anything but he was in too much pain too care about what they were talking about. He groaned painfully as he tried to shift his feet to get to a more comfortable position, his body was bruised and bleeding.

"Throw him into the river." Was what he heard before the men came in and unshackled him from the chains and bound his hands and legs with ropes. Finally, they placed a gag in his mouth and carried him out. "Where are you taking me? Please… Stop!" Yugi shouted from his gag but everything was muffled. From under the blindfold, Yugi could hear the sound of water, the men threw him roughly to the ground and set about tying another rope to his feet.

"You! STOP!" A voice cried out. Yugi could have sworn he heard Atem's voice, however the men ignore the voice and hastily secured the rope. "Throw him in quick!" One of the gang members said. Yugi felt himself lifted off the ground and he tried to struggle but all his injuries had drained him of all his energy, it was no use. The man focused all his strength and threw Yugi into the water. Just then, Yugi felt the unmistakable pull of a rock under him dragging in deeper and deeper into the water. 'Am I going to die this way?' Yugi thought to himself.

Suddenly, a hand grabbed onto his own and the person quickly fumbled with the knots on his legs to free the rock from Yugi's legs. After releasing it, the person wrapped his hands around Yugi's body and swam towards the surface. "Honda! Over here! Give me a hand!" Jounouchi called out. Honda stretched out his hand and pulled Jono and Yugi onto the bank.

{Atem's flashback}

Just as the men threw Yugi into the river, Jounouchi ran after him and jumped straight into the river while Honda fought off the gang members with the rest of the soldiers. They were trying to capture one of them alive but the gang members fought hard and when they realised it was no use, they killed themselves to avoid getting caught. I had a flashback when I saw Jono jumping in to save Yugi, it's like I've seen it somewhere before.

I stopped to think for a second, before it came back to me. During the Battle City tournament in Domino City, Yugi and Jono were duelling each other and Jono was brainwashed by Marik. They were both chained to an anchor which would drop after a time limit or when a players Life Points hit zero. Also once a player's Life Points hit 0, the opponent would be able to get a key that could unlock him from the chains. In the middle of the match, Yugi asked me to let him duel and I agreed reluctantly. He then proceeded to take off the millennium necklace to make sure I didn't interfere with the duel. Even though I could not take control, I could still watch the duel from the recesses of Yugi's mind. In the end, I watched in horror as Yugi directed the attack of "Meteor of Destruction" using "Mystical Refpanel" at himself to save Jono.

{End of flashback}

"Yugi!" Atem called shaking him, trying to wake him up. Atem looked at Yugi's body which was covered in whip marks and countless of open wounds. "Get a chariot here quickly!" Atem ordered as the soldiers brought round a chariot. Jono and Atem both got on the two man chariot, Jono carefully carried Yugi making sure that he did not further injure Yugi and at the same time made sure that he did not accidently drop Yugi while the chariot was moving. Atem, on the other hand, steered the chariot at top speed, riding like a bat out of hell trying to get to the healer as quickly as possible.

Hond stayed behind at the site and took some soldiers with him to investigate the caves in the mountains as ordered by the Pharaoh.

As soon as they reached the palace and Yugi was brought to the medical room, the healers quickly set about assessing the damage. "Don't worry too much Pharaoh, Yugi's a fighter, he will not give up that easily." Jono told Atem, hoping that Atem would not be worried sick. Atem listened but did not give an answer, he was praying that Yugi would be fine as they watched from the side.

They quickly determined that Yugi had miraculously suffered only one broken rib which could be left to heal on its own and had already placed his broken legs in splints made of bark cushioned with linen. They had also fixed his dislocated shoulder, now one of them was working to stitch up the larger wounds on his body. The head of the healers came up to the Pharaoh, "My Pharaoh." She greeted and bowed. "How is he?" Atem asked. "He is doing well Pharaoh, a fighter through and through. I am quite confident he will heal up quite nicely." She assured the king. "I see… Thanks." Atem nodded as she bowed and returned to see what else needs to be done.

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{A month later}

Yugi's physical injuries healed up quite quickly, however, his emotional and psychological injuries were a totally different problem. Even till now, Yugi's gut wrenching screams could be heard reverberating through the empty halls in the silence of the night. Clearly he was having nightmares of his torture. Jono and Hond tried to calm him down and comfort him when he broke down in tears again but it was not helping very much. "Please no more!" Yugi begged his friends as he woke up from yet another nightmare. They just placed a comforting hand around his shoulder but yet all they could manage to say was, "Everything is going to be fine Yugi."

Atem stood at the doorway to Yugi's room one morning, he looked at peace when he was sound asleep. When he first came back to the palace, he hardly got any rest. Each time he closed his eyes, images of his brutal torture was flashed through his mind and he still felt every whip and slash made to his body, promptly waking him up. 'Shimon said that time would heal all wounds, while true to some extent, it is certainly not healthy for Yugi to continue on like this.' Atem thought to himself as he watched his sleeping servant. He has an exaggerated startle whenever someone touches him and he hasn't been eating well that he has lost so much weight.

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"Pharaoh…" Jono and Hond greeted as they walked into the room. "I called both of you here to discuss more about Yugi. Have a seat." Atem informed them and gestured to the chairs beside him. They looked at each other and took their seats. "Do you have any idea of how we can help him?" Atem asked. "I took a short course on clinical psychology in university in my world. What I can say is this, torture victims needs a lot of support to help them overcome the ordeal." Honda explained. Atem bent forward and prompted Honda to explain it more in detail. "Torture destroys a dignity of a person, to make him lose the sense of self. It is important that Yugi realise that he is not powerless, in fact he is strong. Only then will he will realise that he is strong enough to overcome his experience." Honda elaborated. "However, we would need someone with a lot of tact and gentleness and most certainly a lot of patience." Jono added in.

"Hmmm…" Atem mused, "What you've just explained does make a lot of sense though. Obviously we do not have psychologists here, but since Hond studied some psychology before, perhaps you should give it a shot. We will be with you to help you in any way." Atem suggested. "I agree Pharaoh. Let's give it a go then!" Jono nodded. With that, all three of them came to a mutual agreement.

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><p><strong>Please review! All reviews is greatly appreciated =)<strong>


	31. Chapter 31

**Hello everyone! I want to thank everyone so far who has click the favourite or follow button =D AND! Also not forgetting those who have posted the reviews so far! **

**Please keep reviewing the story (Please!) to let me know how you feel and how I could improve.**

**As usual, I own nothing!**

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><p><strong>The Pharaoh's Memories (Chapter 31: On the road to recovery)<strong>

"speech"

"_Japanese speech__"_

'thoughts'

*sound effects*

{locations}

#Text#

;;;;;;;; time shift ;;;;;;;;;

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><p>Previously:<p>

"Hmmm…" Atem mused, "What you've just explained does make a lot of sense though. Obviously we do not have psychologists here, but since Hond studied some psychology before, perhaps you should give it a shot. We will be with you to help you in any way." Atem suggested. "I agree Pharaoh. Let's give it a go then!" Jono nodded. With that, all three of them came to a mutual agreement.

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><p>"AHHHH! Please!" As usual, nightmares haunted Yugi at night. At times, it was so bad that Yugi clenched his fists so tightly that his fingernails would draw blood from his palms. "Make it stop please, Jounouchi-kun" Yugi whimpered as he was shaken awake by Jono as he cried into Jono's shoulder. "Shhh, we will protect you Yugi, no one can hurt you now." Jono whispered into Yugi's ear.<p>

From the meeting Atem held with Yugi's best friends, they decided that from tomorrow onwards, Jono, Hond, Atem and Isis would work together to talk to Yugi to help him move forward from his ordeal. Isis's help was roped in because they felt a woman's presence may help soften the tension when required. The first thing Hond did with Yugi was to make a checklist, he wrote down Yugi's symptoms: exaggerated startles, nightmares, flashbacks, difficulty sleeping, depression and reduced appetite.

Next, they tried coaxing Yugi to speak about his ordeal, Yugi outright refused, "I can't talk about it." he said, tears welling up in his eyes. They respected his choice of what he wanted to say and what he didn't, letting him feel that he was in power. "Why am I so weak? I get scared even when someone touches me." Yugi questioned. Atem thought about it for a while then he replied, "Why do you think that it's a sign of weakness?" Hond then chimed in, "If you think about it, the exaggerated startle means that you are on high alert so you won't get hurt again. Your body is now on fight back mode, doesn't that make you a stronger person." He explained. Yugi thought about it for a while and nodded, he seemed to have accepted Hond's explanation.

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{Five months later}

As time passed and the team of counsellors continued working with Yugi, he seemed to have opened up more, sharing more details of his attack and his feelings. Atem had told him to spend his time reading and resting. When he felt unsure of anything or when he is having some weird (?) feelings, he could always approach any of them. He wasn't as distrustful and reserved as he was six months ago. Yugi had finally recognised that PTSD is characterized by a series of physiological defences and now can begin to understand that painful reactions are not just unnecessary residue from past experience but the way in which his body prepare to fight back. What first appears to be a weakness can be seen as a small sign of strength. Yugi's checklist of symptoms had reduced to one symptom which made Yugi visibly proud of himself.

One day, he approached Atem, who had just finished his morning court session with his high priests. "Pharaoh…" Yugi started hesitantly. "Yugi, something wrong?" Atem asked gently. "I would like to request something." Yugi slowly continued.

"Sure! What is it?" Atem smiled and slung his arm around Yugi's shoulder. "Uhh, do you think I could have my old job back? I feel that if I have work to do, I may be able to stop my occasional flashbacks." Yugi explained. "Well, if you're sure, I'm okay with it." Atem placed an assuring hand on Yugi's back. Yugi gave a slight smile and told Atem that he is sure.

"There's that smile again. I was starting to wonder whether you would ever smile again. Let's go! I still have so much things to do haha! With you helping me keep track of my schedules, I won't be going off schedule anymore." Atem told Yugi, satisfied with the progress that they have made so far.

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For the first time in many months, Atem kept to his schedule and was able to finish everything planned before dinner time. While Yugi was on leave, he had either forgotten or cancelled many meetings and meets that a huge backlog of unfinished work had started to form. Atem had stepped into the room when Yugi was changing to his evening attire, he only had his Shendyt on. "Opps! Sorry!" Atem called as he proceeded to step out of the room. "It's alright Pharaoh! It's not like I'm naked hehe! Besides, I see you dressed like that every day." Yugi joked. "Ha! I guess you're right!" Atem said but fell silent as he saw all the scars left on Yugi's body. "Does it still hurt?" Atem asked. "Nope. I came to terms with it already, I realised that I have to move on when I decided that I will live to become a better person. In my heart, though I haven't forgiven the acts done to me, I have already forgiven the people who did it. Hating someone takes up so much energy that when I decided that I would forgive those men, it felt like the weight on my shoulders magically disappeared. Thank you Pharaoh for helping me through this dark period." Yugi replied. "You are a strong person Yugi, there's no need to thank me at all. All those years ago you have also helped me overcome my grief when my Father died. We should always help others when they need help." Atem said in reply.

Yugi pulled on his tunic and proceeded to open the door for Atem so that they could go to the dining room for Atem to have his dinner.

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The sword society seemed to have laid low ever since Yugi was rescued and Atem had put together a task force to bring them all to justice. "This task force headed by Aknadin won't be dissolved until every last member has been captured and punished." Atem declared at the meeting on the day after Yugi was rescued. The task force had managed to capture many members and those who were sympathetic to the society's cause by providing members with food and shelter.

It was found that the organisation had gained money from tomb robbing and theft. Therefore Atem had ordered that members of the organisation be put to death immediately either by beheading, sacrifice or drowning in the Nile as crimes like high treason, murder, theft or sacrilege which were all punishable with the death penalty. Those who were involved in the kidnapping and torture of Yugi had killed themselves by the banks of the Nile when they realised that they could not escape. Atem had ordered their corpse to be beheaded, their bodies burnt and their heads placed on stakes to set an example to the rest.

People who were found guilty of helping the members were not put on death row but instead were whipped and thrown into prison with the severity of the punishment dependent on who they helped.

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{At the sword society's rural hideout}

The leader of the sword society walked into the house, he was mindful of his surroundings all the way to the house, making sure he wasn't followed. The authorities got too close at the mountain hideout and many men were captured. "Our operation to publicly kill the Pharaoh failed miserably, not only that we lost so many men that day." The leader scolded the team leaders. The day that the guards rescued Yugi, the sword society team that was put in charge of the operation had all committed suicide including the team leader. "On the positive side, dead men tell no tales, at least the authorities cannot torture information out of them about the workings of the organisation." The leader continued as the rest of the mean in the room listened quietly.

"What's our next move sir? We have been laying low for the past six months, the men are getting quite restless." One of them spoke up. "For now, we will continue dealing with the darn nobles of the land, we will leave the Pharaoh for last. Remember, all nobility are scum who have taken advantage of us and have chucked us aside when we have nothing more to give them." The leader ordered, clenching his fists in anger as he remembered _that day. _'I will never forgive them and I will not rest until the last of them is destroyed.' The leader thought to himself in anger as he got up to leave.

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><p><strong>Please don't forget to review! =D<strong>


	32. Chapter 32

**Thank you guys so much for reviewing! Perhaps I was too harsh to use the word disgusting though, I take it back (Sorry! At that time, I wasn't so sure what pairings meant LOL)! Anyways I appreciate all comments as it would help me improve as well =D **

**So just to clarify, I guess I would be writing about Yugi and Atem to be closer to each other as compared to their relationships with the other characters in the story. Hope that clears things up.**

**I own nothing.**

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><p><strong>The Pharaoh's Memories (Chapter 32: The leader is...)<strong>

"speech"

"_Japanese speech__"_

'thoughts'

*sound effects*

{locations}

#Text#

;;;;;;;; time shift ;;;;;;;;;

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><p>Previously:<p>

Remember, all nobility are scum who have taken advantage of us and have chucked us aside when we have nothing more to give them." The leader ordered, clenching his fists in anger as he remembered _that day. _'I will never forgive them and I will not rest until the last of them is destroyed.' The leader thought to himself in anger as he got up to leave.

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><p>The widespread panic among the nobility class that had disappeared for the past few months had suddenly returned when another noble was found murdered at his manor's gate. "Aknadin, I will give you complete jurisdiction over this matter. Just give me a report at the end of every week." Atem told the man before leaving the throne room, as much as he would like to be overseeing this matter, he had too much on his plate. This case had been dragging on for so long that it would be better to give Aknadin complete power to manage the case instead of him asking for permission to do certain stuff all the time.<p>

The first thing Aknadin did was to put up notices, those who gave themselves up now would be shown mercy. He hoped that this would entice some of the 'cowards' to step forward to reduce the number of members in the organisation, making it harder for them to plan attacks.

His plan went somewhat successfully, around 40 people came forward to authorities to turn themselves in by the second day. From them, they had a clearer picture of how the organisation worked. The organisation consisted of teams of around 30 men led by a team leader who was appointed by the leader. The team leader would then in turn appoint someone to be a second in charge, the team leader would brief the men about the objective of the mission and the plan of attack and the second in command would lead the teams out. The team leader would stay back in base, to ensure that they do not get caught in case anything goes wrong which maintains the anonymity of the sword society's leader.

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{In one of the sword society hideout}

"Rawwrrrrrr" The leader was raging, he had already thrown one of the wooden stools against the wall, smashing it into smithereens. "Didn't I tell everyone to keep a close watch of your men? We lost 40 men overnight!" He scolded the team leaders for being so careless. After cooling down, he sat back down and they began to discuss their next plan of action. One of the team leaders spoke up and suggested, "I feel that we should lay low again, the authorities are coming down hard on us and anyone captured is put on death row. This is making some of the men get cold feet." Another one rebutted, "Lay low? Not again, you coward! I still haven't gotten enough kills to satisfy my anger." A heated argument broke out between the two men before the leader slammed his fists on the table bringing the argument to an end. "You trying to alert the authorities to our hideout? Shut up and listen up, here's our next move." The elusive leader whispered the secret plot to his team.

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{The same evening}

Aknadin was having his shower just after dinner and suddenly had a great idea to lure the sword society to them (like everyone else who would have sudden moments of brilliance while taking a bath). Smirking, he dried himself off and put on his clothes and headed down the hallway to find the Pharaoh.

He soon found Atem immersing himself in nature in the garden with his trusted servant right beside him, having a casual conversation. "My Pharaoh…" Aknadin called out as he entered the garden. Yugi bowed in respect to the man, while he bowed to show his respect for the king. "I have an idea to lure the sword society out into the open. The bait will be so important that I bet they won't be able to resist." Aknadin smirked. "You mean me?" Atem asked, quite sure that Aknadin was referring to him. "You needn't go there yourself, I wouldn't want you to put your life in danger as well, Pharaoh." Aknadin explained. "Wait… Before you ask, I'll have you know that I won't allow you to ask Yugi to do it as well." Atem forewarned, he wasn't going to risk anything happening to Yugi should something go wrong. Yugi fell terribly silent, he had wanted to help catch the bad guys but he didn't want to be tortured again.

Aknadin broke the silence, "Don't worry Pharaoh, I'm not planning to use Yugi as bait as well, I found someone who can take the role. He's a guard and would be able to fend off the rouges for a while, I just wanted to seek your permission to have someone use your title for this plan." Aknadin explained. "Sure! I don't mind, as long as you catch them." Atem replied and sent Aknadin on his way. Aknadin bowed and left to prepare the elements of the plan.

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{4 days later}

"He's in place Lord Aknadin, the guards as well." A high ranking officer from the guards' contingent informed the aging High Priest. Aknadin also managed to get Seto and Mahado to help out by escorting the 'Pharaoh' to ensure the plan is more convincing. An announcement that informed the citizens had been put up days earlier that certain streets would be closed for the 'Pharaoh's' procession to pass through. The plan is ready to put into action as everyone (mainly the bait, Seto and Mahado) took their respective positions and tried to act as naturally as possible.

Meanwhile, the sword society members laid hidden in the shadows, waiting for their signal from their team leader. The team leader on the other hand, was carefully watching the procession among the crowd, he knew that his team was ready to strike as soon as he gave the signal. He was placed in charge of three whole teams of men to take down the Pharaoh. He decided that he will not let the 'grand' leader down, being placed in charge of their biggest and most important mission to date meant that the 'grand' leader had the upmost trust in him. 'I must succeed no matter what!' He thought to himself. Then the opportunity to strike presented itself when the procession turned into a street that was much narrower. "Attack!" The team leader shouted at the top of his voice.

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{At one of the many hideouts}

"There's still no news! What's taking them so long?" The leader half-shouted at the other person in the room. He wasn't angry at him but he was getting quite impatient from the waiting. "I'm going!" He shouted finally and got up. "Sir! Please think it over carefully. It might be dangerous!" The other man called out but to his dismay, the white haired leader ignored his warning and continued on his way.

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The plan was executed perfectly, the members managed to surround the procession entirely. However, what happened after that was totally out of their control. The men all fought brilliantly that could rival any trained army. However, they were ambushed by a contingent of the Pharaoh's most elite army, the royal guards. The sword society's men were terribly outclassed by the elite fighters of the country and they soon were overpowered. Trying to fight his way out of the massacre, the team leader thought to himself, 'Damn, we fell right into their trap.' Many of the men feared the punishment that would befall them if they were captured alive that they decided to commit suicide just like the men during the kidnapping of the 'Pharaoh' at the bank of the river. The guards watched in dismay as the sword society members fell one by one, their orders were to capture as many alive as possible.

Those men who hesitated were arrested by the guards, this included the team leader who was in charge of the mission (he didn't really hesitate but he was so shocked at the botched operation that he just stood there, stunned when the guards overpowered him). As those captured alive we're being led away, the team leader spotted the signature hat that the grand leader wore running towards them. "Sir, please run away! It was a trap, the whole thing was a trap. Please run away." He screamed at the top of his voice to alert the leader to the impending danger that he would face if he came near.

The guards soon realized what was going on and immediately gave chase, they soon caught up with him at a bridge and a fight ensued. 'This man could really fight. He is holding his ground against the best trained soldiers.' The captain of the guards thought to himself. The leader managed to take down 4 guards before one of them slashed at his head, breaking the wide-rim hat he was wearing. It revealed a man of a muscular build, a crazy hairstyle of white hair and the most prominent feature was the scar that was running down the right side of his face.

The white haired man realized that this fight was futile and before the guards could move in to subdue and arrest him, he jumped off the bridge and into the river. The guards jumped as well but the man was a good swimmer and evaded capture yet again.

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><p><strong>I might finish up this sword society chapter in the next one or two chapters. Please review and let me know whether you would rather me speed finish it or take the next two chapters to finish up :)<strong>


	33. Chapter 33

**Hello again! University life has been so hectic I hardly found any time to write anything... I decided to finish this sword society thing in the next chapter which I'm halfway through writing. Thanks for reading and leaving all the reviews, I really appreciate it!**

**I own nothing! **

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><p><strong>The Pharaoh's Memories (Chapter 33: Why?)<strong>

"speech"

"_Japanese speech__"_

'thoughts'

*sound effects*

{locations}

#Text#

;;;;;;;; time shift ;;;;;;;;;

* * *

><p>Previously:<p>

The white haired man realized that this fight was futile and before the guards could move in to subdue and arrest him, he jumped off the bridge and into the river. The guards jumped as well but the man was a good swimmer and evaded capture yet again.

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><p>{Aknadin's POV}<p>

"Lord Aknadin, the guards have spotted the leader of the rouge organization, they are giving chase now!" A soldier gave me his report. "I see… Seto, Mahado, can you escort the prisoners back together with the soldiers? I'll go see what's going on." I asked my fellow colleagues. Both of them nodded and I hurried off together with the soldier. When we got there, I saw the guard breaking the hat of the man, my eyes widened as I saw the prominent white hair that the man had... I recognized him!

I was stunned but silently in my heart I prayed that the guards would be able to capture him. Just then, I saw the guy smirk and he jumped over the side of the bridge. The guards followed suit and jumped but by then it was too late, the man swam underwater and away to safety. The guards were the best on land but in water, they moved so slowly in water because of the weight of their armour. "He got away!" I heard someone shout from the water. "Find him!" The captain of the guards barked his orders as the guards set up a perimeter and combed the area for the white haired man. My heart sank at the thought that we were so close to ending this. "At least, we captured a consolation prize" I thought to myself, trying to look at the positive side.

{End of Aknadin's POV}

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It was the first big breakthrough in many months, a team leader who had quite a vast pool of information was captured alive. It was now up to the team of interrogators to extract that information from him. Aknadin walked through the endless halls, trying to find the Pharaoh to give his report. Atem was in the throne room with Yugi and the Pharaoh was anxiously pacing the floor, waiting for Aknadin to bring him good news. The doors opened slowly to reveal Aknadin who entered and bowed.

"Aknadin! Finally! Quick, give your report!" Atem asked anxiously. "Pharaoh, I have two good and one bad news." Aknadin started. Atem raised his brow and patiently waited for Aknadin to continue. "The bad news is we found the leader of the organization but we failed in capturing him. He jumped off a bridge and escaped by swimming away. However, the good news is we captured a team leader who would have lots of information about the organization, he is alive and I handed him over to the team of interrogators to extract the information from him." Aknadin paused to catch his breath. "And the last piece of news?" Atem questioned. "I managed to identify the leader of the organization. He is already wanted by the government for a previous crime he committed. It seems he managed to evade capture until now." Aknadin reported. "I see..." Atem mused quietly. He tried recalling any wanted fugitives but came up blank. "Who is it then?" Atem questioned. "His name is Bakura, he is wanted for the assassination of the previous Pharaoh, Pharaoh Aknamkanon." Aknadin said solemnly, after all the wanted man is Atem's father's murderer.

Atem fell silent after who he heard they were after, the same man that he was trying to catch all these years had been wreaking havoc in the city. He felt the urge to go out himself to find the murderer and to bring him back and pass his judgement on him. All those years ago, when Bakura jumped out of the balcony and fled into the desert, the investigators combed the whole place and found the coat that Bakura was wearing previously, covered in blood. They also found human remains that was partially eaten. They determined that he was attacked and eaten by the wild animals living in the desert and the case was put aside.

Atem's eyes hardened and he told Aknadin sternly, "I don't want a repeat of last time, Aknadin. I want him captured alive, to pay for the crimes he had committed."

"Yes Pharaoh..." Aknadin replied and left the throne room to oversee the interrogation of the prisoners.

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The interrogators were professionals, trained to psychologically wear the person down and professionally maximize physical pain without risking the person dying from their injuries and it went on and on. The captured team leader was clearly in pain and Aknadin could tell that his will was breaking. When he first came in, he confidently said that he wasn't going to reveal any information about the organization. However, after a while, it could be seen that he didn't have a strong will after all. In exchange, for some respite from the interrogation (psychologically or physically), bit by bit crucial information like the locations of the hideouts and names of other team leaders were revealed.

Slowly but surely, Aknadin had managed to systematically break down the sword society, he estimated that they had already put away two-thirds of the organisation. "I'm glad you brought me good news for a change Aknadin. Thanks for the hard work, this case was a tough one after all." Atem commented playfully as Aknadin gave his latest report at the meeting. "I'm unworthy of your praise Pharaoh. I just hope to catch the leader and bring this case to an end soon so that once again, Egypt can return to its peaceful setting." Aknadin bowed. "I have absolute faith that you can do it anyway." Atem commented as Aknadin stepped back in line and one by one the other High Priests gave their respective reports and as usual Atem had to give his decisions which he managed to get through without too much annoyance.

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{At an undisclosed hideout}

The white haired leader managed to swim undetected and after a short hike, he reached at a new hideout deep into the desert where some of the higher-ups already gathered. He was quite confident that the team leaders he handpicked were loyal enough to withhold crucial information about the organisation. "But still, we should take some precaution in case Samu talks…" A bald guy spoke up, the rest of the men just nodded their heads. Bakura finished drying off his hair and sat down, "Oh alright! Clear out the rest of the hideouts and set up a new one in the hilly terrain south of the city at once." He said, stretching his well-toned muscles. "Yes sir!" The men replied and left.

Bakura watched quietly as all his men left to change their hideout location, he pondered over this organisation that he revived. His father had founded the organisation, it was meant to be a peaceful organisation, one that only resorted to violence just to help fellow 'peasants' who were in danger. There were some nobles who treated slaves really badly and if they ran away, the masters would hire thugs who specialized in recapturing slaves to get them back. If they were caught, the slave's punishment would be severe and many would die. The sword society, as his father explained, were a group of peasants trained in the art of sword fighting and they would help runaway slaves escape and lay low for a while so that they could live a free life once more, away from their cruel masters. They never had the intention of killing to make others fear them.

However, as more and more people joined their ranks, it became harder to control everyone. A large number of them, unhappy with how the nobles treated them and how much more comfortable a noble's life suddenly broke off from the main branch of the organisation and went around committing grisly murders that attracted the attention of the authorities. After that group's downfall (Aknadin, who worked undercover with the task force in that small group's ranks secured their downfall), they told the authorities that their leader was his father, Bomani. Pharaoh Aknamkanon ordered that everyone who was involved in the organisation was to be arrested and severely punished and if they resisted, they were to be killed, especially Bomani whom they thought was the mastermind.

{Flashback}

Bakura's eyes hardened as he recalled that day, full of bloodshed. He would never forget how his father hid him amid some crates and sacks just outside the house when the soldiers raided their village. His father was quite a distance off defending himself and at the same time, trying to save people who were being dragged off by the soldiers. Right in front of his eyes, Bakura witnessed how one soldier slashed his father's back and another stabbed him in the abdomen and to add to the insult, they viciously stomped on his face and left him for dead. Bakura sobbed quietly for his hiding place as he watched one by one the soldiers cut down everyone and some of the house's roofs were on fire. His father was still alive but barely and Bakura was tempted to go to his side to help him.

However, when Bomani saw the tearing Bakura, his eyes pleaded with Bakura to stay where he is. Bakura understood his father's intentions and heard the sergeant ordered his men to gather all the dead bodies and throw them into the pit to burn. He watched quietly as the soldiers came round once again to gather all those who were still alive. By then, Bomani had already died from his injuries and the soldiers followed their orders and burn all the bodies. After that, they all left, leaving behind a quiet village that was covered in blood soaked sand and Bakura.

He clenched his fists and swore that he would never forgive the Aknamkanon and one day, he would have his revenge.

{End of flashback}

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><p><strong>Please review!<strong>


	34. Chapter 34

**It's been a while! But I'm still here and still writing, finally I got this chapter written down. To make up for the long time that I haven't been posting, I made this chapter extra long hehe. Hope you guys like it =) **

**I own nothing!**

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><p><strong>The Pharaoh's Memories (Chapter 34: The conclusion)<strong>

"speech"

"Japanese speech"

'thoughts'

*sound effects*

{locations}

#Text#

;;;;;;;; time shift ;;;;;;;;;

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><p>Previously:<p>

He clenched his fists and swore that he would never forgive the Aknamkanon and one day, he would have his revenge.

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><p>'Hahaha, what goes around, comes around Pharaoh!' Bakura smirked when he recalled the day he broke into the palace and watched the shocked expression of Aknamkanon when he embedded the knife into his chest. However, the three guys who didn't really look like Egyptians foiled his plans of killing the precious son of the Pharaoh in front of his eyes and he was forced to retreat to live to fight another day.<p>

Revenge for his father's 'murder' may sound like a foolish reason for all the attacks he ordered but the thought of the nobles living in fear of the sword society who were fighting for their cause and at the same time, to gain some payback for his father's death, heartened him. All the attacks subtly warned the nobility class that the peasant class were no pushovers and to never treat them like dirt under their feet. It's like killing two birds with one stone which was totally worth it.

"I will bring forth a new era where the peasant class are the ones in charge. I will pick up my sword and fight for the new world! A world where there's no more bullying and shoving of blame to the most convenient person!" Bakura declared before leaving the 'abandoned' hideout.

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As he got to the spot of the new hideout, he was quite surprised to find nothing there, his men should have been there already and it couldn't be totally void of people… "Something's wrong!" his mind screamed. As he whipped his head around and reached to draw his sword, the soldiers already had their spears and sword pointed at him. There was no fighting back this time, the soldiers had moved in to immobilize him before his brain could even register the fact that he was surrounded. "Bakura, son of Bomani, you are under arrest for high treason, the murder of Pharaoh Aknamkanon and the murders of the nobles in the land." A lieutenant declared. As all his senses returned to him, the soldiers have already dragged him halfway out the entrance of the cave. All that was on Bakura's mind was 'How?'

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{In the royal palace detention compound}

Bakura was thrown into an isolated cell with two guards posted within view of his cell, his hands and legs were bound with heavy metal chains and he to be guarded until the Pharaoh was ready to give his judgement upon him. Bakura just sat there in the small dark cell in silence, he was baffled at how the soldiers found their new hideout so easily. Many possibilities flashed through his mind, 'Perhaps there was a spy or undercover agent… Maybe the millennium necklace or the millennium ring showed them the way… maybe they happened to chance upon the new location…' He almost went berserk trying to come up with all the reasons but his thoughts were interrupted by the loud clang that was made by Aknadin who struck the bars of the cell with a metal rod to get his attention.

"You seem troubled, perhaps I could help?" Aknadin asked mockingly. "How?" Bakura asked the aging man. Chuckling, Aknadin pulled a chair over and sat down before he answered, "You mean how we managed to find your new hideout? Ahh… It's quite simple actually! You see we always had small bits of intelligence here and there but I have to commend you, the intelligence that we managed to gather at the beginning were so small that there was nothing else to go on and the trail had always ran cold. However, your downfall started when we managed to identify you at the bridge where you first escaped. That was the first breakthrough we had, to tell you the truth if you had remained hidden in the shadows, the trail would have run cold again.

From there, all the intelligence we got began to piece itself together. The last breakthrough we received was when we captured one of your team leader, I think his name was Adofo, he didn't last very long in the interrogation and he spilled a lot of information. We got the names and portraits of the other so called team leaders from the first team leader we captured." Aknadin paused, carefully scanning the expression on Bakura's face. It was obvious he felt betrayed and Aknadin smirked slightly.

Then he continued, "If it makes you feel better, Adofo did not reveal a single thing about you but no matter, even without information on you, our investigation was so much simpler. It was quite easy finding the men with the portraits, we just tailed them and found them moving into the new hideout and moved in to arrest them. Then you came along and the rest was history." Aknadin finished his explanation and stood up. "The Pharaoh will see him tomorrow after sunrise, guard him well until then." He told the guards on duty before leaving.

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{The next morning, throne room}

Shackled with chains, Bakura was pushed through the doors into the throne room, the Pharaoh and all his High Priests were already inside and everyone's eyes followed his movements to his spot. "So you are the one." Atem started, "Now I remember you, when Aknadin described you to me I don't seem to have any recollection but now I remember. It was here you took my Father's life in front of my eyes and if it wasn't for Yugi, Jono and Hond, you might have probably took mine as well. Now I ask you, was it all worth it? The murders that you directed?" Atem got quite emotional talking about the past but he took a deep breath and calmed himself down before leaning back against his throne.

"Worth it eh?" Bakura chuckled to everyone's irritation. "What so funny! You think taking another's life is a joke?" Seto shouted at Bakura. "Seto, let him explain himself.." Atem told Seto calmly before mouthing the words, "please" to which Seto understood and he also took a deep breath to calm himself down. "I guess we became even the day I stuck that knife into your Father's chest, to avenge my own father's wrongful death, it was worth it." Bakura screamed at Atem, "If I had the chance to start over, I would not change anything."

"Your father's wrongful death? He killed so many nobles just like you did!" Aknadin countered. "My father never did such a thing! Yes, he was the leader of the sword society but he didn't order those murders! A group who broke off from the main one did all those things. Aknamkanon did not know that truth and he ordered the attack on my village and just as I watched my father and everyone else get killed so must all of you so that you will get that feeling of helplessness that I felt all those years ago! So yeah, it was worth it." Bakura spat.

Atem's eyes widened in shock, "Take him away. I'll pass my judgement tomorrow." Atem ordered and the guards hauled Bakura away. When Bakura was out of the room, Atem told the rest of the High Priests, "If anyone needs to see me urgently, I'll be in my room. Let's go Yugi." He said somewhat despondently.

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{In the Pharaoh's bedroom}

Atem flopped on the bed and covered his eyes with one hand, Yugi watched the Pharaoh quietly and it was obvious that he was upset. "Pharaoh, are you okay?" Yugi asked softly. Atem removed his hand and sat up, "I guess I am just a bit upset, do you think what he said was true? That my Father got it wrong all those years ago?" "Hmm… it is clear that Bakura is the main culprit for the murders but for the first sword society that Bakura's father was in charge of, it feels like the fog has not cleared totally. It's like we are missing something important." Yugi replied.

Before he could continue, a knock came at the door, "Pharaoh, are you alright?" came the sound at the door. "Let him in Yugi…" Atem told his servant as he sat up.

"Lord Seto," Yugi acknowledged the man, bowing in respect and Seto acknowledged him with a slight nod. "You seem upset Pharaoh, is there anything I can do to help?" Seto asked Atem. "Seto… Yugi and I were talking about Bomani, do you think what Bakura said was true? That Father got it wrong all those years ago?" Atem asked. "There would be no reason for him to lie, but whatever the reason, it cannot justify his killing rampage." Seto replied, he felt that all those deaths were such a waste considering the circumstances, "Maybe my father joined the group that broke off from Bomani's main organisation and they committed those crimes all those years ago." He added.

"What is your opinion on the matter Yugi?" Seto asked. "As I told Pharaoh, something seems to be missing from the whole story as if someone had manipulated the circumstance to bring the matter to a close as quickly as possible. The first question that came to my mind after hearing Bakura's rant just now was: why was Bomani accused as the culprit? He had lived in the shadows all along and nobody knew Bomani at that time. Despite this, the witnesses' statement's that Lord Aknadin gathered all those years ago had identified Bomani as the attacker. Sure, Bomani had 'stolen' a few slaves from the noble's hands but it was all non-violent. Who made the survivors come forward and identify him as the one who caused all the violent attacks? Lord Aknadin confirmed that it wasn't the group that broke off who went around making Bomani their scapegoat, so there must be another person."

"That's true. I'll quietly investigate this Pharaoh, if you would let me." Seto asked. "I was just about to ask you to do it." Atem chuckled. At that, Seto left the room to start his investigations.

"Let's pay Bakura a visit." Atem told Yugi, who hastily opened the door for him.

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When they reached the detention compound (to the surprise of all the guards there), Bakura had calmed down considerably as compared to his demeanour during the trial, and he managed to get Bakura to relate to him the whole story. Apparently, Bakura's motives were totally opposite to his father's when he revived the sword society. Firstly, his father was the most convenient person to blame when nobles were killed and he was the head of the organisation. There wasn't really a thorough investigation to confirm Bomani's guilt and the village was raided by the soldiers.

{Bakura's POV}

I was the only survivor of the attack on the village and I found a friend who I grew up with when he came back from picking fruits, by then his parents have also died because of the attacks. It was the both of us against the whole world and to keep ourselves from starving, we tried to find work. It took us quite a while but eventually there was a nobility household who hired us. However, the masters of the house treated us badly. They would beat us till we bled profusely for the littlest mistakes like waking up a minute late. It was literally abuse, they did not consider us as human beings but someone who deserved to be treated like an animal. I hated them and I hated all the nobles in the land.

To make it worse, when a valuable item belonging to the mistress went missing, we were immediately accused of stealing it and as a result, both of us got a severe beating. They said that since we did not want to admit to the theft, we were not allowed to have any proper meals. Just like that, both of us were deliberately starved, only getting a small piece of bread every night.

However, a few days later, a maid found the item inside the drawer under some clothes and that ended our punishment however, it was too late as my only friend had already died from an infection of his injuries and also partly because of malnutrition. I didn't want to be reminded of his death and I became angrier at the nobles for their apparent indifference of the death of a servant which they deliberately caused. So I quit my job and a crime organisation specializing in tomb robbery took me in.

When I got older, I decided to exact my revenge on everyone who caused my life to become like that and I revived my father's organisation determined to put things right and to search for the people who maligned him and caused the death of the whole village.

{End of Bakura's POV}

"No matter what your reasons are and what you went through, it would not justify murder and treason. Your crimes warrant the death penalty… I'm sure you know that the day you decided to attack the city. You were different from your father, his motive was to peacefully fight for equality while you just cared about bringing bloodshed on others. Although I do admit that there should be changes to how everyone is treated. I assure you that from now on, there would be severe punishment awaiting nobles who abuse their servants." Atem said regretfully before leaving.

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{The next day}

Bakura was again brought to the throne room for his crimes to be judged by the highest ranking man in all of Egypt, one who was considered part man and part God, Pharaoh Atem. "Bakura, son of Bomani, you have ordered the murders of countless nobles in the past year. You have committed high treason against our great empire when you murdered Pharaoh Aknamkanon and plundered the sacred tombs of many other Pharaohs. For all these crimes, your penalty shall be death by beheading. You and your leaders will be beheaded and your heads put on display at the city's gates to serve as a warning for others. The execution will be held in a week in the afternoon. I pray that you will take the time to reflect upon your crimes. Take him away." At his command, Bakura's guards came out and dragged him to his cell once more to await the day of his execution.

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{One week later}

According to the will of Pharaoh Atem, Bakura and the upper echelon of the sword society were put to death and the rest of the members were jailed, counselled and placed under surveillance, thus bringing an end to the threat of terror that the group had cast over all of Egypt.

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><p><strong>I decided I could not just leave Bakura's father's story hanging just like that (it would be too unfair to him and to Bakura as well) so for the next few chapters (probably 2 or 3) I shall give it a proper end. Look out for it..<strong>

**Remember to R&R!**


	35. Chapter 35

**Hey everyone, I'm back! Thanks to everyone who have read, reviewed and liked this story. I appreciate it very much. Please continue to review so that I may improve as well =D.**

**I own nothing. **

**The Pharaoh's Memories (Chapter 35: Justice has been served)**

"speech"

"_Japanese speech__"_

'thoughts'

*sound effects*

{locations}

#Text#

;;;;;;;; time shift ;;;;;;;;;

* * *

><p>Previously:<p>

According to the will of Pharaoh Atem, Bakura and the upper echelon of the sword society were put to death and the rest of the members were jailed, counselled and placed under surveillance, thus bringing an end to the threat of terror that the group had cast over all of Egypt.

* * *

><p>"Although Bakura had been put to death, this case is not yet closed. Seto, what's your progress on the investigations I had you carry out?" Atem asked Seto while they were having a secret meeting in the confines of the Pharaoh's bedroom. The only other person present was Yugi.<p>

"I have found something quite interesting while looking through the taxation records during Bomani's time. At that time, to reduce the unemployment rate among the peasant class, Pharaoh Aknamkanon had introduced tax relief for nobles who hire servants for the household. The amount of tax reliefs is dependent on the number of servants hired so more servants mean more tax relief." Seto started. "I know about that, it is still in place now although the amount of relief is different now, the concept is still the same." Atem answered.

"The problem lies with the system itself. During Bomani's time I realised that the servant records of some of the households and the number declared to the treasury by the taxation department do not tally. The nobles have been declaring the right amount since they will be checked but the number reported to the treasury by the taxation department has always been higher. It means that all this time the amount of money dispensed for the tax relief has been higher than what it should be. The amount of money we are talking about is a lot, someone from the taxation department has been pocketing the extra money and that person must be in a substantially high position in the department to carry this out under the radar for so long." Seto explained. "Find him…" Atem said in quiet anger, he didn't want to risk anyone finding out about their secret investigation while it's still ongoing.

"To go through this much for a convicted criminal, you are indeed kind, Pharaoh." Seto said as he was leaving the room. "No matter who it is, justice must be meted out to the right person even if the victim was a criminal." Atem replied coolly. Seto smirked as he walked out, silently acknowledging how far this young Pharaoh of 20 years of age has grown and matured.

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{After much digging and poking around}

Seto eyes widened as he discovered the person responsible of corruption, it was the minister in charge of the taxation department and senior official of the treasury (A/N: Bakura had this person killed already, see chapter 26). "These people are in position of trust and yet they could betray our Pharaoh's trust in them." Seto thought furiously as he walked determinedly through the halls to let Atem know of his findings.

"It's not known whether Bakura had known of the senior official corruption that made him target the senior official or was it pure coincidence. Nevertheless, it proves Bomani's innocence and I will see to it that the people responsible are severely punished with the full extent of the law for cheating off the hard earned money of our people. Good job Seto." Atem declared as he went off to draft his speech to his people to declare Bomani's innocence as well as the order to execute the minister in charge of the taxation department.

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{A month after a declaration and an execution later}

"A visitor has arrived at the palace to meet the Pharaoh, sir" a servant informed Yugi. "Okay thank you, I'll let the Pharaoh know." Yugi replied as the servant bowed and left. Returning inside, Yugi announced told Pharaoh that his guest has arrived "Do you know who it is Yugi?" Atem asked. "I have a feeling I do, Pharaoh. I think you will be pleased." Yugi replied, chuckling to himself. Atem was perturbed at Yugi's mischievous demeanour, he tried recalling who had invited to the palace but he drew a blank. 'Meh, I guess there's only one way to find out.' He thought to himself.

{In the great hall}

Phoenicia waited patiently in the hall admiring the paintings on the stone walls and the gold that lined the edges of the walls and pillars. Although she had been here before, she could not help but be enamoured by the splendour and grandness of the palace. In her heart, the person who made it all perfect is the Pharaoh himself, not that she was going to admit it out loud, but she could not help it as she was swept off her feet by him the first time they met and how gentlemanly he acted that day sealed the deal.

The large doors to the hall were opened and there he stood, Atem seemed a little stunned to find out who was his visitor but he soon regained his composure and walked in with confidence. Yugi stayed behind discreetly laughing, amused by Atem's reaction which confirmed his suspicions that Atem totally forgot that Princess Phoenicia was coming back to Egypt. "He had no idea, did he?" Shimon stopped beside Yugi. "No sir, apparently he forgot, hehe" Yugi replied. "Oh well, in any case, it's promising that he should allow her back, elder Femi was so pleased when she found out that she had started talking about wedding preparations but I told her not to expect too much, she's just here for his birthday celebration." Shimon commented, laughing.

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{On Atem's birthday}

"Happy birthday Pharaoh!" Yugi exclaimed as he entered the room in the morning and Atem was just getting out of bed. "Thank you Yugi." Atem said groggily, apparently he wasn't a morning person. "Pharaoh, I have something to tell you…" Yugi said in a serious tone. "Sounds like you have bad news for me, please don't tell me that you are leaving to go back to your time. Not on my birthday Yugi." Atem said softly.

"It's not that Pharaoh, it's the opposite. Jounouchi, Honda and I met to discuss about this, we agreed that we have gotten so used to our lives here. We decided that we were going to stop researching on ways to get back, you have been so good to us Pharaoh and there is not much reason for us to desperately want to go back. Although I wish that I could have said goodbye to my grandpa that's all." Yugi explained with a smile.

Atem released his breath that he didn't know he was holding, he felt a sense of relief when Yugi told him that they weren't leaving after all. It might have been selfish to want them to stay but he couldn't help it, Yugi had become his closest friend after all these years and all they have been through. "That's the best gift you have given me Yugi, thank you. I'll get Mahado to find a way to contact your family so that your wish could be realised too." Atem said with a soft smile and pulled Yugi into a hug. "Thank you Pharaoh." Yugi replied and returned the hug.

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"Happy birthday Pharaoh! The ministers and Princess Phoenicia greeted Atem as he entered the great hall. Atem's eyes widened at the sight of the room, it was beautifully decorated, ready for a party. "Thank you everyone!" He replied as they guided him to his place and the party began with everyone handing Atem the gifts that they have prepared for him. Phoenicia stepped forward holding a carved wooden box, handing Atem the box, Phoenicia said, "Pharaoh, this is a carved amulet from my kingdom, we had this specially carved for you and it is said to keep the wearer safe from harm."

"Thank you, Phoenicia, it's a beautiful amulet. Thank you for being here as well." Atem said politely.

**I added a bit of a filler to complete this chapter, let me know if you want to see Atem married off hehe. I hoped you liked this chapter.**

**Please remember to R&R!**


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